


The Colors We Grow Into

by Bilonchi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, But shhh, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Drug Use, Fake Science, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Japanese Shiro (Voltron), Keith is 80's trash, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Making Things up about the lions, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Not Canon Compliant, POV Alternating, Past Rape/Non-con, Possibly OOC, Shiro (Voltron) Angst, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Voltron au, at least that's what he thinks, but Lance isn't with them at first, but don't worry, i am clueless, i have no clue how to tag please don't judge me, i'm too soft for that, it ain't graphic, me inflicting pain and suffering on Lance and Shiro???, more likely than you think, or should i say space daddy, the others dont know, they find him!!!, they still go into space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-29 04:52:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14465412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bilonchi/pseuds/Bilonchi
Summary: Shiro was fine, regardless of what anyone tried to tell you. He really was! It may be a little stressful being in the middle of space with only an alien princess, her advisor, three teenagers, and four space mice to keep you company. And sure, it was a little stressful being the leader and head of a supreme alien task force whose main goal was to destroy the evil overlords threatening the entire known universe, but hey what else was new? Yeah, maybe Blue was persnickety with Allura every now and then, locking her out at random times and being kind of a pill.But they're fine! Well, fine until Blue decides to book it one day, abandoning her paladin and flying off to who knows where. But it's okay! Because they find her! In the claws of the galra....So, maybe things weren't fine. But Shiro couldhandlethis.That is, until they find the boy with the ocean blue eyes. Nevermind, Shiro can't handle this.-------My first fanfic! Pls be gentle ;-;





	1. The Start of Shiro's No Good Very Bad Day™

**Author's Note:**

> -reads from sweaty, shaky palm- "hI my nAmE is Billie aNd I aM afraId-"
> 
> jk, but uh this is my first fanfiction? I've been voltron trash for a while and I was like "I wanna read this fanfiction" but then realized I couldn't find it anywhere and couldn't read it if I didn't write it so here we are.
> 
> This is going to be a multi-chapter fic and I have no clue how long it's going to be, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants! This is fine(TM)
> 
> So uh- please be gentle? Leave some comments? Maybe a kudos?? Whatever -sweats nervously, trying to not come off as too clingy- But yeah :))) Thank you!

This was bad. This was very, very bad. Takashi Shirogane had been in his fair share of very bad situations- he was no stranger to them. Between being captured by the Galra for a year and forced to fight in death matches in an alien arena, and returning home to Earth only to be rocketed back into space, for an indefinite period-of-time, a day later, Shiro was well versed in bad situations. However, if this mission continued the way it had been running its course, it could very well claim the title of Worst Day Ever™.

Interestingly enough, today had started much like any other. Shiro and the three other paladins had woken up and stumbled to a delicious and nutritious breakfast of green food goo. Pleasantries had been exchanged around the table, Coran shared another vague but applicable story of an alien organism from back in his day, and Allura had fretted about Blue not allowing her in, once again. The usual reassurances were made and life continued on. However, about halfway through the typical breakfast, the ship's alarm began to blare through the castle, immediately setting the team on edge.

Pidge shot up to her feet, food goo dripping down her cheeks from where she had been previously face down, snoring into her meal. While she had been near sleep’s door simply seconds ago, she was now wide awake. She released a growl that sounded much closer to a threatening hamster than anything truly feral and muttered, “I'm gonna’ shoot that dumb alarm one of these days.”

Hunk simply made a consoling noise and patted her on the shoulder.

With an internal groan, Shiro rose to his feet. He flashed his poster-boy smile to the rest of the team and reluctantly beamed, “You know the drill by now. Suit up and meet at the bridge. Sooner the better. Let’s roll.”

As the team trudged through the door, Keith could be heard mumbling, “Autobots, roll out.”

-|~|-

Baffled gaze fastened on the bridge display, Allura didn’t hear as the paladins made their way back into the bridge, now fully armored and more awake and aware of their surroundings. Panicked thoughts were too busy whipping around her head, slowly drowning her with worries and doubts. This was bad. This was very, very bad. What happened? How did this happen? Where had it gone? Why had it just suddenly left? Had she offended it? Had she done something wrong? What had she done wrong?

To the observer, the princess's normally bright, almost fluorescent eyes were dark and murky and her brows sat heavily over her eyes, casting them into further shadow. Her entire face was pinched in concentration and it was clear that the alarm that had sounded out just dobashes earlier was something far more serious than the typical planet-under-siege-from-the-Galra that they normally receieved. Whatever had happened was somehow worse, however incomparable the two may be. The Princess stood stiff, all muscles tensed and ready to react at any moment. There was no sign of her normal regal composure, and this should have been Shiro’s first clue as to the type of day he was fated to have.

Where the other paladins hesitated, he stepped forward smoothly and rested a hand on her shoulder. He prompted, “Princess?”

Her voice was low as she uttered, “The Blue Lion is gone.”

“What?” questioned Pidge, as she finally stepped forward to Coran’s side to gaze at his module’s screen as he tapped away furiously. She continued on, “How is the Blue Lion gone? No one was piloting her!”

Hunk sidled up to Coran as well, gaze flicking between the screen and the Princess in the center of the bridge. He tentatively spoke, “Is that possible?”

Coran pitched in, “Historically no, however, the lions do have a form of sentience about them. They are able to think and act for themselves, but they benefit most when in a symbiotic relationship with a paladin. They have been known to run to the rescue of their paladin, but nothing like this has ever been recorded.”

Shiro’s gaze swung from the red-headed Altean to the silver-haired one at his side. Where he had previously thought it impossible, her posture had stiffened more and she seemed to emanate a dark cloud of indiscernible emotions. His brow furrowed as he squeezed her shoulder and carefully urged her, “What are you thinking Allura?”

“I- We need to track Blue. Now. We must find out where she is going and follow her. It is imperative we do not allow any others to find her before we do,” Allura ground out, obviously still tense. “Paladins, to your lions. You will move faster in them than the castle will. I will send you her signal so you may track her on your tracking system.”

The paladins all left, rushing to their lions, but Shiro paused. He turned and stared into Allura’s eyes, his own gaze holding steady and strong.

“We’ll bring her back to you Allura. I promise.”

Allura softened for the first time since they had entered the bridge and he saw her regal mask crack. She managed to choke out around a wet chuckle, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep Shiro.”

With that, he was gone.

~|-|~

“Where the hell is she going?” questioned Keith, voice tinny over the comms.

“Language,” replied Shiro.

“She seems to be headed towards The Eldati Sector, which is strange considering there’s nothing of considerable note out that far. It’s a relatively new sector, comprised mainly of new solar systems. There are no evidences of life yet as all the planets are still in a state of cooling and compaction. There are no distress beacons, no signs of life, no resources, just stars and a lot of molten planets. There aren’t even Galra in the sector,” Pidge replied, seemingly thinking out loud.

“And that translates to?” snarked Keith.

“Hell if I know,” Pidge shot back, equal amounts of sass in her voice.

“Language,” said Shiro, again.

“There’s no reason that I can find for the blue lion to fly out this far. It’s just empty space for lightyears, really,” mused Pidge.

Hunk finally chimed in, voice ringing in strong, “Maybe she’s looking for something?”

Keith, Pidge, and Hunk continued in their musings with one another while Shiro began to wander in his own thoughts.

_“Hunk may not be that far off. The blue lion could be looking for- Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, don’t go there Shiro. Allura is the blue paladin. No one is replacing her. We aren’t searching for her replacement and neither is Blue. Blue’s just gone haywire. We are fine, she is fine, Blue is fine. Everything will be fine.”_

Shiro was brought out of his reverie by Pidge hissing, “What. The. Hell?”

“Language Pidge!” Shiro shouted out of pure habit.

“Uh guys? I think we found Blue…” Hunk muttered.

Shiro took a moment to look out of the display and immediately froze. Sure enough, there was Blue. Caught in a tractor beam. A very large, very intimidating, very purple tractor beam. There she went, up, up, up and into the hull of the ship where she could be seen no more. Because of course Blue was going to literally fly into the claws of the Galra. This was another clue that Shiro had caught onto that hinted that he was going to have a very bad day.

“Damn it,” Shiro deadpanned

“Language.”

“Hah, hah Pidge,” Shiro droned as he scanned his screens, trying to analyze the information displayed in front of him. His brow furrowed as his fingers tightened around the lion’s throttle. It was almost like he was trying to read Greek, or an alien language. Oh wait. He was reading an alien language. A 10,000-year-old dead alien language which might as well be Greek. Great.

“Do me a favor Pidge and tell me what we’re looking at. I thought you said there weren't any Galra in this sector?” Shiro asked, as he looked back to the large Galran ship. Worry weighed heavily in the bottom of his stomach as the corners of his mouth turned down into a concerned frown.

Pidge seemed to hesitate momentarily before she said, “This is weird, I don’t think we’ve seen something like this before. It’s definitely Galra but I don’t recognize the make or layout of the ship. It doesn’t seem to have any particle barriers raised and I definitely don’t see an ion cannon, but I can’t tell you much beyond that. If we want to know anything else, we’ve got to go in.”

Shiro let silence fall for a moment, as he stared hard at the large ship that sat in front of them. There were no planets in the immediate area and a nebula sat in the background. The ship was the largest he had ever seen and loomed intimidatingly above them. However, it was sleek where the typical battlecruisers were filled to the brim with artillery. Where there was typically an ion cannon, sat what looked like a viewing deck. Not to mention the inordinate amount of small personal sized pods and ships buzzing around the outside of the hull, docking and leaving constantly. All things considered it was beautiful in an eerie, deadly sort of way.

Shiro finally broke the silence, “Alright team. Let’s phone Allura and let her know what’s going on before we do anything else.”

“But Shiro! The lion-“ Keith cried indignantly.

“The lion will be okay for now. We’ll stay right here. We just need to take this one slow. There’s no way we can shoot our way through all of this if we go in right now, guns blazing. We need to at least try to blend in. That’s our safest bet,” Shiro interrupted. He looked to Keith through the video feed before he continued, “It’ll all work out.”

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he stared down Shiro. He must have found whatever it was he was looking for before he nodded and relented, “Go ahead and call them.”

Shiro shot Keith a small, thankful smile before opening up the comms to the castle, “Allura? We’re going to need you to lock onto our location and meet us here. There’s a small field of debris just behind us. Go ahead and hide the castle there.”

Allura’s voice rang through, “Shiro? What’s happening?”

“Well princess, I think you’re just going to have to see this one for yourself,” acquiesced Shiro.

“We’ll be there in just a few ticks paladins! Hold tight till we get there!” Coran said.

Shiro grimaced and responded back, “Not much else we can do.”

~|-|~

It wasn’t long before the familiar flash of light and sudden swirling wormhole announced the castle’s arrival. A short, punctuated gasp quickly followed.

Cries from the Alteans filled the comms, “What! That’s not possible- It couldn’t be!”

“Coran? Allura? What’s wrong? Did something happen to the castle?” Hunk broke in, worry tinging his voice.

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s just…” Allura trailed off, hesitation tinging her voice.

“What the Princess means, paladins, is that what you see before you is a social center where the wealthy and poor alike gather for no other reason than enjoyment and indulgence. Gambling hubs, markets laden with the rarest and most exquisite goods of the legal and illegal variety, and what, I believe I have heard you humans refer to as clubs, that overflow with the finest alcohols and artificial stimulants and enhancers.” Coran finished off.

“…Space Vegas? We found Space Vegas?” Pidge enquired unbelievingly. Shiro shot a glance over at the video feed and had to stifle a laugh at her incredulous expression with her honey-colored eyes blown wide and jaw nearly touching her chest.

“Vegas? What is Vegas?” Allura piped up, finally seeming to regain her mental footing.

“Something that we can explain later Princess. But yeah Pidge. We found space Vegas,” Keith smirked.

Of course. Of course, the blue lion would fly away to Space Vegas, because, why wouldn’t it? Shiro dragged a hand down the front of his helmet in exasperation, eyeing the massive spacecraft dubiously.

“Coran. You seem to be familiar with this type of vessel. What’s security like on it?” Shiro questioned.

“Tight and close-knit. Not to mention the sheer amount of Galran troops and generals on shore leave. Yes indeed, filled to the brim with trained fighters. As well as the traders and normal patrons, of course. Again, it is a social hub whose main interest is weaseling GAC out of every single patron. I should know, quiznakers thought they could pull one over on me,” Coran replied with a sniff.

It was easy to tell everyone felt the same exasperated amusement with the Altean advisor as it was unanimously shared throughout the lions’ bond. What would they do without Coran’s seemingly endless experiences and practical knowledge? It figured that his experience wasn't lacking in Space Vegas either.

“To clarify, what I’m hearing is that there are likely a butt-ton of Galran generals here who happen to be on their vacation? Galran generals with lots of fighting experience and large numbers of troops that they could call on at any moment?” Hunk asked as he rubbed his temples with one hand.

“Yes, indeed Number Two!”

“I fear this will not be as easy as any of us had hoped. Paladins, perhaps it will be best if we reconvene in the castle to further flesh out any potential plans we may have for retrieving the blue lion,” Allura suggested, though it came across as a clear command.

“On our way Princess,” Shiro spoke, turning Black around and waiting for the others to fly off in front of him first. He wanted to trail the others back to the castle; give himself more time to think. Though, whether or not that was wise still had yet to be decided. His thoughts never were the kindest place to retreat to, but he felt that he needed this. Just for a couple minutes- er, dobashes. Shiro sighed and set Black to autopilot before leaning back and resting his head against the pilot’s seat.

The likeliness of this mission going south very fast even with a solid attack plan in place was far too high for Shiro’s liking. Sneaking into a massive Galra base with thousands of real live Galrans, not just sentries, flooding the entire ship was high on his list of things to avidly avoid.

What on Earth had Blue been thinking? He hadn’t bonded personally with the blue lion, but he knew enough about her based on information given to him from Coran and Allura and from experiences he’d had when forming Voltron. She wouldn’t just run off and go crazy, deciding to hand herself over to the Galra! She wasn’t Red. He highly doubted faulty wiring could be put to blame either. The lions were ancient, but sentient. No. He had to trust Blue. She knew what she was doing, even if the rest of the team didn’t like it. They were here for a reason, and while Shiro didn’t like it- he needed to accept it. 

Shiro absentmindedly ran his fingers along the scar across the bridge of his nose. No. He didn’t like it one bit.

It was then that Black landed softly in her hangar, lowering her head to the floor. She could sense the worry and agitation pulsing from her paladin’s mind and quickly decided she didn’t like these emotions. She knew what stress felt like, and even panic, but this worry ran deeper and harsher and longer than any of the other negative emotions she had experienced through him. She let out a low rumbling sound trying to calm him as she had seen Yellow do with his paladin when he was having what the humans called an “anxiety attack”. It seemed to help the yellow paladin, would it work for hers? The emotions were not quite the same, but similar enough.

Shocked by the sudden noise and vibrations, Shiro jumped in his seat before realizing they had made it safely back to the castle. He placed a pause on his rampant thoughts and gently laid a hand on Black’s dashboard. A small, genuine smile played at the corner of his lips as he let himself soak in the purring coming from Black.

“Thank you _Soyokaze_ ,” hummed Shiro.

A warm summer breeze filled his mind, frolicking along through the air, twisting and turning as it let out gentle huffing sounds that sounded like laughter. Black was a reassuring gust of wind through your hair, a gentle breeze on a humid summer night, a constellation of stars against a pitch-black sky. She was there and she was solid and she was real and she helped ground him.

Shiro took this moment to stand and walk out of Black, the gentle thoughts and reassuring rumbling noises still pervading his senses. Dammit, he was going to make this mission work! Chances and probabilities screwed! They were going to get Blue back, Allura would be able to pilot her perfectly from now on, no one would be hurt and everything would come up roses or so help him God.

The gentle reassurances and images from Black were able to straighten Shiro’s back and place some confidence in his step. While he may not have felt said confidence, there was something to at least faking it that seemed to help.

By this time, Shiro had reached the bridge and found everyone else milling around, throwing out thoughts and ideas and observations about the large starship that laid just beyond the debris field they took cover in. Upon hearing his solid footsteps, Allura turned to greet him gracefully, any signs of her earlier distress either gone or carefully covered up. The latter was more likely, knowing the princess.

“Ah Shiro, there you are. Now we may begin,” Allura said firmly. 

Shiro gave a nod and motioned for her to continue wordlessly.

She continued on, “Coran, the other paladins, and I were discussing options as you were flying back to the castle, and we think we may have come up with something agreeable. Hunk and Pidge will fly Green, while cloaked, around the cruiser, keeping an eye out for potential dangers on the outside. Shiro; you, Keith, and I will take a pod out to the cruiser and dock, under the pretense of vacationing.”

“Princess. I don’t mean to offend you, but how are we supposed to blend in with thousands of Galra? Last I checked we weren’t very purple, or fuzzy,” Keith asked brusquely.

“Worry not Keith, we will blend right in. All aliens are welcome aboard these luxury entertainment cruisers. More money able to be swindled away when there is a wider base to service. We will not need to worry about standing out amongst the Galra," Allura soothed.

Keith's brow furrowed as he stared at the Princess, dark eyes seeming to swirl with sharp thought. He quickly replied, "Yes, but you happen to have two very large, very noticeable Altean marks just below your eyes. Considering the only known Alteans still alive are you and Coran, aren't they a concern?"

Allura held up an elegant hand, signaling for silence. Keith shut his mouth, but his face continued to storm.

"If you wait just a few ticks, that will be addressed. Trust me. Moving on, Keith, you will slip away and find a computer through which we can patch Pidge and Hunk into the ships system to provide us with a map. Shiro and I will then split up and follow the directions provided to us by Hunk and Pidge to narrow down Blue’s possible locations. From there, we find her, we retrieve her, and we get out,” Allura wrapped up, voice smooth and sure.

“Are you sure that you and Shiro should split up? Doesn’t seem very safe to me. Almost more counterintuitive than anything,” Pidge questioned. She didn’t look angry, just concerned with her mouth turned down into a small frown and the light of the screens glinting off her glasses as she eyed the screens with a critical and analytic gaze.

Allura’s nose wrinkled as she sighed and relented, “I would prefer we not split up, however, the cruiser is so large I do not see any other feasible way of finding the blue lion in a timely manner. The less time we spend there, the better.” 

She clasped her hands behind her back and then turned to Coran and questioned, “Coran? Will you kindly fire up the replicators?”

“Of course Princess!” he exclaimed before scurrying off.

“Replicators? What would we need replicators for?” Keith asked, a confused wrinkle in his nose.

A small, amused smile played across Allura’s face for the briefest of moments before she replied simply, “Remember your concerns about blending in?”

The wrinkle in Keith’s nose only grew along with his distaste. It seemed that he was quickly catching on to Allura's drift.

"No one on vacation goes in full armor. We must dress like the locals," concluded the Princess, smug yet amused smirk returning to her face. She quickly clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Now for sizings!"

With that, Keith threw his head back and groaned. Shiro chuckled, the weight that had previously weighed down on his chest lightening minutely as he affectionately ruffled his brother's hair with his prosthetic.

"You asked for it kiddo."

"I would literally rather die listening to Madonna on repeat than play dress up."

Shiro simply shrugged before countering, "Sorry, but we've got to get the blue lion back and this is the best way to do it."

Well, he sincerely _hoped_ it was the best way to do it.


	2. Shiro Officially Realizes It's A No Good Very Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith, Shiro, and Allura finally board the luxury Galran cruiser, The Praetor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oki-doki, this is it folks. This is where that warning tag is going to start coming in to play. Nothing is ever graphically described, just heavily hinted at. So if that's a no-go for you, turn back now. If that's all gucci, then by all means continue on my dudes!

“Personal flight pod 525CQ1, you are cleared for docking upon The Praetor,” rang a deep, gravelly voice over the open communications channel. Allura, Shiro, and Keith all let out near silent sighs of relief, tension slowly bleeding from their shoulders. The three sat in the modified Altean flight pod, dressed in their disguises that had been so kindly provided by the eager Coran. Shiro had to hand it to him, Coran did have a solid artistic eye for flattering lines and well placed fabrics and headpieces.

Allura looked every part the intimidating foreign alien noble. With a warm gold-like metal creating a form of half-top with a deep midnight blue, seemingly weightless fabric falling from it to create an ethereal dress and an elaborate headpiece that swept up and away from her head while conveniently hiding her Altean markings, she was nearly unrecognizable. Shiro and Keith both wore full body black suits that followed sharp angles and cuts, overall creating a very sleek but dangerous looking image. Both of the humans also wore what seemed to be alien sunglasses, for lack of a better term, that curved all the way across the upper half of their faces, masking their identities from any particularly curious or nosy aliens.

Allura stood and straightened her back to a regal curve before shooting a look over her shoulder to her two paladins. “Gentlemen?”

Shiro gulped quietly as he tried his best to clamp down on the rising panic that made his chest tighten and his fists clench. He could see Keith shoot a worried stare his way, his hand hesitantly reaching to lay itself down on his shoulder. Quickly, Shiro shook his head and stood in a rush. 

He was being ridiculous. It had been years since he had been a prisoner of the Galra. There was no reason for him to still be this paralyzed with the idea of boarding one of their ships without the intent of total and utter immediate destruction. This was going to be a simple in-and-out mission, no mucking around necessary. He wasn’t turning himself in, no one was trying to capture him, and he wasn’t in any immediate danger. They were just disguised while performing a rescue mission. This is fine.

Shiro steeled his face before walking up to Allura’s left side, Keith hesitantly following to her right. Both men held out an elbow which Allura took without a word. He stole another glance to Allura’s face. He couldn’t see it all- only her profile, but from what he could tell, she was just as tense as he was. 

Keith reached over and opened the pod’s door, allowing the low purple light from the outside to begin to stream into their surroundings, seeming to darken and dampen the already heavy atmosphere that wove between them. 

It was then that Allura closed her eyes, took a deep breath that seemed to stretch all the way to her feet before opening her eyes again. They held a hard, ready gaze that would melt any who dare stared at her or her accomplices for even a tick too long. Frankly, Shiro was amazed at the cool and calm that the Princess always managed to muster up from her seemingly never ending reserves. A cold, unattached smile stretched across her face giving her a delicately dangerous aura.

“Let us go,” she stated before beginning to strut forward, leaving Shiro and Keith to follow. She really was a leader in every sense of the word.

“Remember, do not accept any food, drink, or other substance from anyone aboard this ship. We do not know the ways it may affect you. Also keep an eye out for any suspicious guard activity or movement. That may betray the blue lion’s location,” Allura uttered.

“Aye aye Princess,” Keith whispered back lowly as they approached someone who seemed to have a job similar to that of a customs agent. 

A small line of other aliens stretched between them and the agent, all from what appeared to be vastly different walks of life. Some were clothed in little more than rags while others were dressed even more extravagantly than the three of them. Coran hadn’t been joking when he talked about practically everyone being allowed into the city-sized starship. Shiro took this moment of waiting to surreptitiously observe his surroundings. The docking bay was bustling with life and business. Ships continuously entered and left, packages loaded and unloaded, alien life forms milling about, all sharing various degrees of banter and talk. Hawkers and poor merchants had small blankets laid around and about, calling out to passerbys, trying to sell whatever wares they may have. Under different circumstances, Shiro thought he might have even enjoyed this visit to The Praetor.

“Next!” shouted out a gruff voice.

Shiro brought his attention back to the Princess as she stepped forward, making sure he and Keith stayed directly behind her. The delicate smile had stayed upon her face as she looked the tall Galran officer up and down before finally paying full attention to his face.

“It is just me and my two consorts. We have nothing to declare and we have brought no weapons with us,” she said dismissively.

The Galran raised an eyebrow before staring down Shiro and Keith, pupilless golden eyes inspecting them carefully before turning back to Allura.

“ _Two_ consorts?” was the only thing he responded with.

Allura timed a well-placed sneer before asking, “And do you have any problems with that? I will gladly take my time and money to another luxury cruiser. Perhaps one of the rebels’?”  
The agent, instead of panicking and rushing to please her simply grinned widely, one side of his mouth lifting higher than the other. He leaned down into her personal space, face only inches from hers, and smarmily purred, “No. Just impressed. For a little thing, you seem to be able to handle a lot.”

The polite smile had now vanished from Allura’s mouth. Both Keith and Shiro readied to step forward and defend the Princess before feeling the woman’s nearly indiscernible warning squeeze of their elbows. They both immediately knew what this meant. She could handle herself. Both forced themselves to relax and allow the very capable woman to handle the situation herself.

Allura tossed out flippantly, “If anything, it is _them_ you should be impressed with. They are the ones who take everything I give them, and do so without complaint, unless you count a few groans,” here she paused before pushing a few scant inches closer to the officer before she continued, “They take everything and they take it everywhere if you understand what I mean.”

She let her smile pull into a grin as she conspiratorially whispered, “Controlling people is so much more fun.”

If it was possible for full Galrans to pail, this customs officer did so as he snapped back to a full-standing position hands immediately tucking behind his back, as if protecting whatever delicate systems he may have back there. His thin face was pulled back in shock and his fluffy ears laid straight back, almost like a cats.

Shiro could feel Keith trying not to burst out into raucous laughter at the suddenly emasculated male. It wouldn’t have mattered how hard he tried, Shiro let a chuckle slip past his lips as the small, fierce woman next to him smirked up at the agent. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the Princess could handle things and situations much bigger than her. She was always quick to remind them, though, of every single one of her qualifications and capabilities. Princess Allura was not a force to be reckoned with.

“Now,” she purred, “Will my consorts and I be let through?”

The Galran sharply nodded before moving to the side, all his movements stuttered and choppy. The caution he now held towards the woman in front of him was clearly apparent. Allura simply smiled before guiding the other two paladins past the guard and into the awaiting corridor towards the ship’s central hub.

After they had cleared the docking bay, Keith let out huge peals of laughter, nearly folding himself over in half with the force of his laughter. Shiro was quick to join in, mind going back to the shocked and nervous face that the agent had pulled after Allura had managed to subtly yet overwhelmingly dominate the man. Even Black let out a few chuffs within his mind, being privy to the entire event. Allura simply let a coy smile curl over her face.

It was enjoyable to have things lighten, even if it was just for a moment. And it was very much worth it, especially after seeing that look on the agent’s face. Shiro nearly lost himself to laughter again.

“What in Wityx’s name is so funny?” snapped a gremlin-like voice over the comms.

Keith only ended up laughing harder.

“We’ll tell you everything later Pidge, I promise,” Shiro replied amusedly, gazing at Keith out of the corner of his eye. It was interesting to see him like this, openly laughing instead of quiet snorts and shaking shoulders. Maybe it was the nerves getting to him. Regardless, it was nice to see.

“Fine and dandy. Now hurry up and patch me into the system unless you three want to spend the next _week_ searching for Blue,” grouched Pidge.

“We’re on our way now,” interrupted Allura smoothly, “thank you Pidge.”

A harrumph could be heard from the young teen, but she said nothing else.

The three began to stride down the hall again, arms once again intertwined. It was fascinating to see the interior of this ship compared to the other battle cruisers they had been aboard. The lights weren’t any warmer, still the normal purple glow, but images and tapestries hung upon the walls. Long swaths of a heavy, smooth looking cloth hung across the ceiling, adding a warmth to the cold metal surroundings. It was almost impossible to imagine this being a Galra ship. It was also difficult to reconcile the notion that the Galra ever did anything other than fight and conquer. The fact that this ship even existed was astounding to Shiro. This setting, this environment- it was almost human.

Shiro frowned. No. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t start blurring lines. With the exception of The Blade of Marmora, Galra were Galra were Galra. They were heartless and cruel and power hungry. They were savage and cared little for what happened to others around them. _They were not human._

“All right, Keith and Shiro, I’m going to reiterate it again. Do not eat or drink or consume anything that is offered to you, no matter the circumstances. It is unlikely anything will be offered to you, but the chances of it being addictive or detrimental to your health is very high,” Allura informed them.

“Right,” Keith affirmed.

The three broke through the corridor into a wide, open space. If the wide hallway they had just been in was difficult to consider Galra, then in this area it was impossible to see the Galran influence. There was a huge fountain in the center of the room, water shooting up in colored lights, putting on a show. Large groups of people milled around aimlessly, wandering from here to there, doing nothing but seeing everything. The room was bright and vivid and loud and alive. Delicious smelling food stalls were dotted throughout the hub, along with colorful booths selling alien clothing and jewelry and everything else under the sun. It was bustling, filled to what felt like the brim with all sorts of aliens. Some looked familiar while there were others that Shiro would not have even been able to imagine. The only familiar constant were the Galra soldiers that were dotted throughout the crowd. It was easy to lock onto their tall, intimidating forms to keep himself grounded. It was then that Shiro harshly reminded himself. They weren’t here to gamble or party or drink. They were here for Allura; for the blue lion. This wasn’t a crowd full of lambs. Rather, they were the lambs in a den of lions.

Shiro heard Allura’s quiet chuckle as he slammed his jaw shut. Definitely not an appropriate time to be overwhelmed or impressed. One of the worst times, honestly.

He cleared his throat before turning to Keith, “You ready Keith? You’re going to have to find a terminal pretty fast. Pidge said that there should be one off this central room somewhere but…” Shiro trailed off and glanced around the room, quickly losing count of how many doors he saw branching off into their own hallways and separate rooms. It could easily take Keith multiple days to try to navigate and find a single control room with a terminal. They didn’t have days- they barely even had hours.

Keith sighed and rested a hand on Shiro’s forearm. “Stop what you’re doing right now and relax. Stop acting like a dad,” he teased. “Pidge gave me a good starting place and things to look for to locate a control room. It won’t take forever.”

Shiro stared into his eyes for a moment before nodding. “Sorry I’m so on edge you two, it’s just that we’re in-”

Allura gently cut him off, “A Galra ship. It's okay Shiro.”

"It's okay to not be okay," Keith pitched in thoughtfully.

Shiro turned back to his adoptive brother before letting a smirk crack his face, "When did you get so smart?"

Keith simply shrugged and patted Shiro's forearm before darting off and vanishing into the crowd. It seemed that the training he had been doing with the Blade of Marmora was paying off. Their emphasis on secrecy and subterfuge had been difficult for the brash half-galran at first. However, he had slowly grown more accustomed to it and had even adapted his current fighting techniques to include more Marmoran tendencies.

Allura pulled Shiro around to look at her before gracing him with a genuine smile.

Shiro snorted, “I’m supposed to be the one comforting you. Your lion is the one that’s lost.”

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“You really don’t need to worry. I promise that I will be okay. If anything, this is good for me. Right?” Shiro asked her as he offered his elbow up to her once again.

Allura simply hummed, “Are you asking me or yourself?”

Shiro gently bumped into her, knocking her off her course on purpose. She shot him a nasty glare before hip-checking him back into his place. She huffed out, “Your childish actions and responses will get you nowhere, you know.”

In retaliation, Shiro simply hummed noncommittally. 

The two of them began to stroll quietly through the marketplace and central hub, eyeing the wares being sold casually. One stall they strolled past was particularly fascinating as it sold what looked to be exotic pets. Shiro paused, looking at the stall more curiously than he had the others. The animals looked to be in good health and none of them were chained up cruelly. A gentle smile lit up Shiro’s face as he took in the different creatures in front of him.

Allura paused with him, inspecting the stall as well. However, where a smile had lit up his face, a frown darkened hers.

“Ah! Hello you two! How can I help you today?” asked the person that stood in the stall, surrounded by the menagerie of animals. They looked interesting, short and somewhat squat but with a broad chest and an extra set of arms. They were a pale blue color and didn’t have ears, but rather a reptile-like eardrum structure. Their eyes were also completely black, no sign of an iris or pupil. That didn’t prevent a shiver from running down Shiro’s spine at the unsettling look that they were getting from the alien.

Allura asked, “You sell live animals?”

The trader grinned, all needle-sharp teeth and chirped, “Yes ma’am! The finest there are.”

She hesitated, as if fighting an internal battle, before continuing, “This is your _entire_ selection?”

Suddenly, the trader’s grin became sharper, if that was even possible. They leaned forward on one set of arms before gesturing the two closer with their other set. They whispered, “You’re looking for something more...exotic I take it?”

Allura nodded her head falteringly. The trader looked Allura up and down in an appraising way, but it wasn’t rakish or appreciative. It was simply analytical. The trader must have seen something that they were looking for because they then nodded.

Shiro was so far out of his depth, and he knew it. He completely missed the whole other underlying conversation. He knew it existed, but didn’t know the true context of the words being traded back and forth. Either he needed to brush up on context clues or there was truly nothing underlying either of their words. With the apparent concern painted across Allura’s face, he sincerely hoped it was the latter. Please, please, please-

“Follow me then. Ymn! Come here quickly!” the trader barked out as they turned around. A scrawny young looking alien of the same species as the trader came scrambling out from behind a large pile of crates. This one appeared to be female, which led Shiro to believe the trader was male. 

“Yes Eih’q?” she squeaked out, both sets of hands holding onto themselves tightly.

“Watch the stall, I’ll be back,” Eih’q ordered. Before the girl even had a chance to nod, he had swung himself over the stall counter and landed in front of Allura and Shiro. He placed a large, firm hand on the center of their backs before guiding them away. 

This was not what they were supposed to be doing! There was a very set plan, and as far as Shiro knew, this was not in said plan. He shot a questioning look to Allura, as he tried to decipher what exactly was happening. He wasn't overly concerned, at least not yet. He trusted the Princess to know what she was doing. If they were going to go look at more exotic pets, then they were going to go look at more exotic pets. She nodded her head at him and gestured in a way that was meant to signal for him to ease, which he acknowledged. But considering where they were and the circumstances surrounding that, he chose to not calm down and remain tense as all hell.

The small group had soon arrived at a small, unassuming door with a hand-scanner off to the side. With a flourish and another toothy grin targeted at Shiro and Allura, Eih’q placed a hand on the scanner. He moved to the side as the door opened, allowing Shiro and Allura to slip through.

“Enjoy yourselves! Hope you find something you fancy!” he chortled before closing the door.

Shiro furrowed his brow and turned to Allura, ready to ask her what the hell that was about and why on Earth were they going off plan, when he caught sight of her pallid face. He rushed forward, grabbing her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes.

“Allura what’s wrong?” he enquired level-headedly.

“Shiro. _Look_ ,” she hissed before turning him around to face the room they had entered into.

Oh.

Oh no.

This was one of the definitions of not good. This was what most would consider very bad, actually. In the back of his mind, Black let out a low, angry growl. Her normal soothing summer breeze was replaced with a loud gale. Trees were whipped back and forth and tornadoes set down and tore across country sides. Homes were upended and cities destroyed. Black’s sense of justice was crying to be released; to demolish this entire room.

The entire room reeked of booze. People swayed around drunkenly and crooked laughter was plentiful. A large, boisterous and rowdy crowd stood in front of them- almost more of a mob than anything. The noise they were producing was overwhelming and the whistles and catcalls being made were appalling. The crowd pulsed and pushed and pulled as they all clambered to make it to the front- make it to see the main stage.

On the main stage stood an alien shouting out descriptions and qualities of a woman held tightly in the alien’s grasp. The woman, though she clearly wasn’t from Earth based on the markings covering her temples down across her shoulders and down her arms, seemed faint and dizzy and was swaying back and forth. She didn’t seem to be aware of her surroundings. She didn’t react to the nameless faces and hands reaching out to grab at her and pinch at her and just get one little feel of her. There wasn’t much to cover her, just a scrap of cloth across her chest and a crude skirt that hung formlessly from her waist.

Behind her, there were others. There was a whole procession of objectively attractive, scantily-clad, seemingly drunk, chained up people. Male and female, ranging in age from old to almost a child. Black lashed out again in righteous anger at the image that lay presented in front of her.

Shiro felt the color drain from his face to match Allura’s expression. He watched as people shouted out increasingly higher and higher numbers and assumed that what he heard was an auction. It was obvious what was happening right in front of them.

This was a slave trade.

A cheer rose up from the center of the crowd as a large amphibian looking alien strode to the front and then hopped up onto the stage with ease. He leered at the woman as she turned to him, eyes still unseeing and unfocused, movements clumsy and uncoordinated. Shiro wanted to reach out and stop the alien man from grabbing the woman’s face in one slimy hand. He wanted to stop the alien from smirking and running his other hand down the side of her face. He desperately wanted to run and scream at the alien to _“let her go”_ as the amphibian like alien licked up the side of her face sensually. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t and he hated it- he hated every second of it.

The amphibian alien dropped a large knapsack, assumably filled with money, in the outstretched hand from the coordinator. The deal was done.

Shiro felt his stomach turn over once, twice, and then it began to do flips. Backflips, frontflips, aerials, layouts- his stomach was an entire gymnastics gym.

What was worse than all that he had just witnessed was the fact that he realized this wasn’t new to him. Because of course it wasn’t. Of course memories began to flood back to him of times where he was in the hands of the Galra. Times where he had been scheduled for another fight, but it had been delayed by a slave auction. Times where he was guided by guards down long halls and he could hear what was happening behind closed doors. Pleasured grunts and pained screaming. Times where he remembered a pair of eyes; piercing, sea-blue eyes.  
Shiro doubled over and grabbed at his head, clawing at his forehead, trying to get the memories out, out, OUT! Get out! Stop! Stop! STOP!

“Shiro!” a panicked voice managed to reach him. 

Slowly, Shiro came to his senses. His head whipped around this way and that, trying to get his bearings as his eyes flicked up and down the empty hall he was suddenly in. Allura must have guided him out of the seedy auditorium they had been in.

“A-Allura?” he choked out.

“Oh thank the gods, Shiro!” she cried, falling down to his side. She gently removed the sunglasses from where they sat on his face and then took his head in her hands.

Shiro could hear stilted calls and yelling coming out from where his comm device lay a few feet away on the floor. He winced and rubbed at his head. It had been so long since he had a panic attack like that- he hadn’t been ready. Wait! No, no, no, that wasn’t important right now! Allura had to know! She had to know about the slave trading within the Galra Empire. It wasn’t an isolated incident on this ship. It wasn’t just the small crowd of people that had been up on that stage. It spanned across the entire galaxy, from solar system to solar system. There was nowhere that the Galra had not reached and pulled from; literally nowhere.

Shiro scrambled for the hands on the side of his head before spurting out, “Allura! They’re across the entire galaxy! I remember!”

“Wait, what? Shiro, slow down, I don’t understand,” Allura ground out carefully.

“Allura. The slaves. The auction we just saw. It’s not just here, and it’s not just in this system. It’s across the universe and the Galra are the ones that drive it. They kidnap people from their homes, from their planets and force them into slavery! Allura, it’s not just here!” Shiro elaborated.

Silence fell across the two of them, even the tinny comms falling silent. Everyone else must have heard what he had said. Good. They needed to know, needed to understand. This was important and he would say it, shout it, scream it as many times as he could until he made them understand.

Allura’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between his eyes, looking for any hint that he was lying or was not serious.

However, she soon realized that no matter how much Shiro wished that this was all a sick, morbid joke, it wasn’t.

“Shiro, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked into it! I had a hunch, it was what the Galra used to do before everything, when their slave trade was small. Exotic pet vendors were used as a front or an entry point into a slave market! I should not have even asked him, I-”

Shiro winced but managed to whisper, "No. I-It's good we know now."

“Guys! I’ve patched Pidge and Hunk in! We’ve got a blueprint of the ship!” Keith shouted over the comms. It must have been loud, considering Shiro didn’t have his earpiece in but could still hear Keith clearly.

Another moment of silence fell over the two of them. Allura turned her attention back to Shiro, her expression pained. “We can’t save- Blue is our priority. Shiro, I-”

Shiro gulped, but held up a hand. He forced his voice level before he uttered gingerly, “I know.”

This pain in his gut was familiar as well. He was unable to do anything, unable to help any of the captured people to freedom. He hated the situation that those people were in, but he could do nothing to help them. The blue lion really was their priority and as much as he wanted to free every one of those people within the room behind them- he couldn’t. He had to admit his weakness and his mortality and the fact that at the end of the day, they just couldn’t save everyone, no matter how much it hurt.

This was the moment when Shiro knew that his no good, very bad day had officially started.

He took a deep breath and said steadily, “Let’s go. We’ve got a lion to save.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright alright alright alright(tm) let's talk about this AU. So, it's been a couple years since the kiddos + Shiro have launched themselves into space. I dunno, I've stretched out the timeframe a lot for this AU. While I don't mind the original timeline, like at all, I just wanted mine to be longer. Maybe it's because they don't have Lance? I'll leave that open to interpretation. Anyways, Keith obviously knows he's part Galra considering he has done training with The Blade. If anything, I think that I would place this fic towards the end of season three, beginning of season 4, EXCEPT SHIRO DOESN'T GO MISSING AND COME BACK A DICK HEAD BECAUSE I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT.
> 
> And in case it isn't clear, Shiro was never a part of said slave trade, just had a few passing experiences with it and knew enough about it to understand what was happening. Also, sorry if he feels OOC for this chapter. I dunno, I just want to see less of stoic(tm) Shiro and more Shiro having no idea what he's doing because he's only a young kid, really, and he's just trying his best but he has anxiety and PTSD because he got a lil messed up. I don't know, I just thought that he wouldn't have a good time going on a Galran ship for any reason other than utter destruction or reconnaissance, ya kno?
> 
> Anywhozies, leave a kudos, comment, whatever if you want, and if you don't want to, that's chill too! Stay chill my dudes!
> 
> -Billie <3


	3. It's Still a Bad Day, But Maybe Less So?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the blue lion is found and Shiro makes a new friend.

As Shiro turned down yet another cold endless hallway, he sighed. Still no luck. He had lost all sense of time and relativity- at this rate they would need to somehow figure out how to bring Einstein back to life so he could remind Shiro of how the two scientific principles worked in tandem. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he and Allura had split up. At this point, it felt like quintants upon quintants had stretched themselves between the two’s separation. Another shiver crept down his spine as he was reminded just how much he wanted off of this damn ship.

“This hallway is clear too Hunk. Any other directions for me?” Shiro mumbled through the communications device that once again sat in his ear.

A warm pitying chuckle played through, “Sorry about this buddy. I’m sure you’re ready to gnaw your way out through the hull.”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Shiro chuckled.

“Oh wait, hey, hey, hey, hold up for a moment!” Hunk spouted. Suddenly, there was the sound of a clacking keyboard, and a large inhale.

Shiro paused in the middle of the hallway, looking up to where he was going then back to where he had come from. Nothing had seemed to change; it was still devoid of life, save for him. Purple lights still lit up the walls, and faint sounds still echoed in from the numerous recreational rooms dotted throughout the gigantic starship.

“What’s up Hunk? Everything okay?” Shiro ventured cautiously.

“Yeah! No, this is great actually! Coming up straight ahead of you is a huge room, and it borders the outside of the hull. It’s got a few bay doors. Looks like it might be an old docking bay, but point is I think Blue might be ahead! I wish I could tell you for sure, but some sort of signal jammer on the ship is keeping me from reading her. But this is a good bet!” Hunk continued excitedly.

Shiro grinned and began to sprint down the hallway. Good, the sooner they found Blue, the sooner they could get off this ship. A thought began to pester the back of his mind again, but Shiro tried to shove it down as best he could.

However, his mind just wouldn’t let the thought of the slaves leave his mind. At the end of the mission, all of the other paladins and he would be safely off the ship and on their way back to the castle, where they could breathe and unwind in safety. The people trapped here didn’t have that option. They couldn’t just up and leave. Unease bubbled in the bottom of his stomach. He hated that they had to leave them all here- if they could just-

No. No, he had been over this with himself. There was no way that they could do anything. Not now. There were only three of them aboard this huge ship and they were spread so thin that there was no way they would be able to hold off Galra troops while simultaneously trying to rescue woozy and nearly unresponsive captives. That was off the agenda for today, no matter how much he hated that he had to prioritize like this. 

Regardless, Shiro’s lawful and justice-centered mind promptly decided that it didn’t care and continued to pester him, causing guilt to pool heavy in his heart once again.

Shiro cut his own thoughts off with, “Okay, Hunk. Think you can get me in there?”

A confident snort sounded into his ear, “Is food goo green?” 

“That’s my guy!” Shiro cried as he slid into the room as the door hissed open.

Hunk giggled, “You sound aggressively heterosexual when you talk like that my guy.”

Even though Hunk obviously couldn’t see Shiro, he still waved him off and laughed, “Yeah, yeah,” Shiro paused and looked around at his surroundings. “Okay Hunk, I’m going to go silent for a couple minutes here, so don’t worry about me. I’m just going to look around, I’ll let you know what I find.”

Hunk hummed in affirmation before silencing himself but keeping Shiro’s side of the comm open. He didn’t want to distract Shiro in what was clearly a very dangerous environment, but obviously still needed to be able to hear him in case of emergencies. So, he made himself content with remaining silent while listening from afar.

The bay he stood in was near pitch-black, the only light being cast in by the few stars that floated through the sparse windows that dotted the ceiling and the mostly for-decoration lighting set in his paladin armor. The light that the two together did provide was fuzzy at best and only provided a foot or so of clear visibility.

Shiro readied his arm, wincing slightly when it buzzed to life with its purple energy. He hated when he had to use it. It reminded him of times that he would much rather forget. Unfortunately, beggars in pitch dark rooms couldn’t be choosy about their sources of light.

So, he lifted his arm up and casted the harsh purple glow onto his surroundings. The room smelled of mold and dust, as if it hadn’t been used in decapheebs. Large crates were piled throughout the room, creating a labyrinth of twists and turns. Honestly, it was unlikely that the blue lion was here, but Shiro had to exhaust every room that he came across for the sake of his sanity as well as Allura’s. For all he knew, the Galra may have created a new form of cloaking technology or something of the sort to keep them from finding the lion. No, it was best to be absolutely sure rather than relatively positive.

With that, Shiro began to walk forward, steps falling near silently as he navigated his way through. All the crates and boxes were labeled in Common Galran- which none of them, unfortunately, knew how to read. Coran had thought it in their best interest to learn to read and write in Altean rather than Galran. Why, Shiro was not entirely sure but he wasn’t going to begin questioning the royal advisor now. They had traveled together for years and he trusted the advisor explicitly. Though, he could maybe pitch the idea at the mission debriefing with the other paladins and Coran. It would be a useful skill for all the paladins to have, considering the current widespread expanse of the Galran Empire.

Shiro continued this way, winding through the maze of crates and boxes with his mind wandering far off plains.

Suddenly, Black began to grow restless. Low pitched growls echoed through his mind as she lashed her tail back and forth. Had she been a smaller, physical cat, he guessed all of her fur would be on end and her hackles raised. She could sense something in the room with them, not the blue lion- but something. Shiro halted to a stop. 

All of his senses were now on high alert, and his mind snapping back to the reality he stood in- a pitch black abandoned docking bay aboard a very occupied Galran cruiser. Every muscle in his body fell naturally into a fighting stance, loose but ready. Black was urgent in her pacing of their shared connection. She was unsettled, but not mad. He had never felt these types of muddled emotions come through the bond that he shared with his lion and he was almost floored with the nearly exhilarating adrenaline that had been sent pumping through his veins. Something was definitely wrong.

A quiet clang came from the farthest left side of the room. Shiro’s head whipped around, narrowing in on the source of the disruption. Black moved with him, heightening his senses further as she methodically guided him to a tall stack of boxes that lied on the farthest most side of the disused docking bay. His feet moved forward silently, every step leaving a shoeprint in the thin layer of dust. It was obvious no one had been here for years, so why was something, or someone here now?

Shiro felt as if he was walking in an abandoned church. There seemed to be a feeling of reverence and respect combined with mournful atmospheres and graffitied walls and tombstones. What should have been holy had been desecrated. What should have asked for respect stood as shambles and ruins of its former self. It was a melancholy feeling, something found but only in part. Again, Black let a low growl rumble through him. Something was very, very wrong.

He neared the wall and found the large pile of boxes that Black had been guiding him towards. It creaked as it precariously swayed from side to side. Shiro eyed it cautiously before Black went, for lack of a better term, nutso. All that could be heard was her hissing and spitting, tail lashing back and forth as her irritation and worry rose. There was something just behind this pile of boxes and Black was confused as to how to feel about it. Neither paladin nor lion knew what sat behind the precarious pile of boxes, but Shiro chose to side with the logic and safety of caution. It was likely a drunk Galran foot soldier who had wandered off from the rest of his crew while on leave. Finally, this was something that Shiro could handle- it wasn’t an innocent alien, it wasn’t a slave trader with an ambiguous moral code, it wasn’t a fuzzy gray ethical line that he debated whether or not he should cross. This was a Galran Empire soldier, this was black and white. It was take down or be taken down.

With that, Shiro threw himself out from the shadows of the crates, hand poised for attack. What he saw fly through his adrenaline-fueled vision just confirmed his expectations. Galran armor, a galran helmet, a hand reaching up for mercy, and-

Wait!

Shiro scrambled back as he quickly as he could, though he left his galran prosthetic powered up and buzzing with a low ominous tone. He was ready to strike at any moment, but Black had practically yowled at him once they both saw what sat in front of them. Galrans did not have skin that color and the soldier had a serious lack of the typical fur. Shiro stared at the bottom half of the soldier’s face that could be seen below the clunky, apparently oversized, helmet. Instead of seeing the typical lavender colored fur, there was a stretch of what appeared to be smooth caramel colored skin. It could be possible this soldier was a half-breed, like Keith, but even that was unlikely due to the collective Galran ideal of only pureblood soldiers fighting amongst the ranks. 

It was then that Shiro became aware of the rapid sounds of stuttered breathing and a muttered familiar yet unplaceable language. With a frown, Shiro realized he may need to talk to Pidge and Hunk about updating their communicators again. It was strange because he couldn’t make out any words of what the person was saying. All alien languages should be able to be translated by the communications device in his ear. What was even stranger was his lion's sudden lack of activity. She had gone silent and he couldn’t sense her agitated thoughts or movements anymore. She was still there, still hovering in the back of his mind; just...quiet. The quiet was deafening.

Finally, Shiro decided to power down his arm. A muted darkness fell over him once again, but he could make out the shape of what was now obviously not a Galran soldier. Sure, whoever it was, wore the armor and insignia, but everything else pointed to a story far different from the one the outward appearance told. The person sat, curled up into what could only be described as the fetal position and was shaking like a leaf. They were much smaller than the average Galra- in fact, they seemed closer to human-shaped if anything. What that story being told was, he was unsure. But he was damn well going to find out after he managed to calm down whoever he had managed to scare the hell out of.

Shiro kneeled down before he reached out and lay a steady hand on the stranger's shoulder. He wanted- needed to make sure that whoever this was, they were aware of his presence and that he was not there to harm him. Though, it was unlikely they could forget his presence, considering he had just leaped at them filled with a condemning righteous fury just two seconds ago. All he received in return was a solid flinch, but at least they were aware. A sudden, loud purring ripped through his mind. Strange, Black never purred like that. She hardly purred at all if he was being frank, only when he was in the middle of a flashback or on the cusp of a nervous breakdown. 

Black’s odd behavior aside, he continued, “I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice was warm and solid and he lent all comfort he could.

All previous trembling that had come from the form beneath his arm suddenly ceased. A head slowly lifted to stare at Shiro, the jaw dropped down in what seemed to be shock.  
“Taka- Champion?” a distinctly male sounding voice uttered.

Shiro reared back on his heels as his defenses began once again to rise up. How did this alien know him? Common sense began to leak back in. Why was the stranger here, in the far reaches of the huge alien spaceship he sat on? Had he been hiding? Why had he been hiding? Alarm bells continued to scream in his head. He narrowed his eyes before leaning back in cautiously and questioning, “Who are you?”

Before anything else could be asked, the person had whipped their arms up and fought with the clunky Galran helmet for a couple seconds before it was ripped off their head and thrown off to the side.

“Holy crow, it is you,” came a hushed whisper.

Shiro stared in awe at the young man in front of him. Had it not been for the distinctly pointed ears, he would have thought that he was human. He had sun-kissed caramel skin with chocolate brown hair that framed his angular but somehow still boyish face. What really caught him though, were the eyes that gazed up at him with shock and astonishment. The eyes that were colored a bright ocean blue and twinkled up at him in amazement. Something about them was distinctly familiar, but he couldn’t figure out what. Where had he seen him before? Had he seen him before?

An unruly squawk disrupted his reverie, “Wait! What are you doing here! This is a Galran ship, you idiot! I know you escaped, there was news about it all over for quintants! You’re not thick-skulled enough to actually come back, are you!?”

“What?” was all Shiro could squeak out.

“Oh no, you are soft headed! I knew you took one too many thumps in the arena!” cried the brunette that sat in front of him. He was suddenly all melodramatics, a hand being dragged in what looked like an exasperated fashion down his face.

Shiro had begun to grow indignant as he choked, “Excuse me?”

The man had stood rather ungracefully, long legs going akimbo before he grabbed Shiro’s arm and hauled him to his feet as well. He wasn’t much shorter than him, and only a little narrower through the shoulders and chest. What on earth was he doing in here?

“Come on, you can’t stay here! We’ve got to get you off this ship before someone realizes you’re here and recaptures you and turns you back over to the witch-bitch,” urged the stranger.  
Shiro finally came back around to his senses and recovered from the shock that he had been greeted with. He grasped the stranger's forearm and rasped, “Woah, woah, woah, slow down. I can’t leave the ship. I’m the paladin of the black lion of Voltron and I’m here for the blue lion!”

Blue Eyes (that was what Shiro decided to call the stranger, because of his ocean-blue eyes (yes Shiro was well aware he was unoriginal, he didn’t need it mentioned, thank you very much..)) turned back around. His eyes were blown even wider than they had been before, though Shiro hadn’t thought that was possible, and he said reverently, “Y-You’re a paladin? Of Voltron?”  
Shiro nodded hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“I-I know where the blue lion is!”

This gave Shiro pause. He looked in shock down at Blue Eyes. He frantically searched his face, searching for any sign that he might be lying or trying to somehow mislead them. There were no signs. His face held firm and he stood as tall as he could with his chest puffed out confidently. There was no waiver in his stance, no hesitation in his appearance. Black, who had begun to move around again, allowed a feeling of trust to flow through the bond. It was not implicit trust, but it was trust all the same.

A crackle followed by a voice through his ear cried, “Shiro! You need to get out of there now!” It was Pidge, and she sounded frantic. Wait, where was Hunk? Why was Pidge calling?  
“Pidge? Give me a status report. What’s happening?” Shiro questioned as he began the familiar transition from worried paladin to fearless leader. The fearless leader was always the easier of the two. Much more two-dimensional.

“Hunk’s down on the ship with you! He had to go in after Allura because a patrolling squad found her! She had taken off her headdress or something and they saw her marks, but he and Keith are going after her right now. We have to bail!” she bit out frantically.

Shiro could feel a piercing gaze melting into him, never relenting. He looked up to meet it again. Black eyes gazed into blue. Blue stared back. He still didn’t step down. He was sure. Shiro’s mind began to doubt itself again though. It was possible this was all a set-up, an elaborate trap. Blue Eyes was wearing a Galran Uniform in the middle of a luxury Galran cruiser in the middle of nowhere. The entire story and circumstances did nothing but scream suspicious. 

“Trust him Paladin,” echoed a voice through his head. It sounded like it was coming from all sides in a cacophony of different voices. It seemed to ring forever in just the space of a second. It was gentle breezes and roaring hurricanes and catastrophic windstorms wrapped into a single, overwhelming thought. He knew then what needed to be done.

“I know how to find the blue lion,” Shiro stated firmly. A toothy grin broke out across Blue Eyes’s face.

“What!?” came the shrill shriek in response.

“I know how to find the blue lion,” Shiro restated, “I’ve found some...help.”

“How on earth are you going to fly out of there? Shiro! You’re not thinking this through,” Pidge growled.

A confident smile stretched Shiro’s face as he gave Blue a firm nod. “Yes, I am Pidge. I’ll find her and we’ll make it back to you guys.”

“Shiro! Out of all the brilliant tactics and plans that you have made, this is by far the worst! If you submitted this into the “Plans Hall of Fame”, they would reject it with an appropriately scathing letter sent back with a 20-page list of all the reasons that this plan could go WRONG.”

“Whoops, sorry Pidge, I think you’re cutting out. We’re losing connection. I’ll see you back at the castle in a few dobashes!” Shiro cut in.

“SHI-” and Pidge was cut off as Shiro shut off his communication device.

Blue blinked slowly in astonishment once-twice-three times before bursting into a peal of gut laughter. Shiro felt warm from his fingers to his toes as he listened to the laughter. It wasn’t the prettiest thing he had ever heard, it certainly wasn’t windchimes in a gentle breeze, but it was genuine. He didn’t think that he had ever heard such sincere laughter in his life. It was incredible. Shiro smiled in return.

However, he was soon brought back to the reality of the moment and the situation he was in. What sounded like coordinated and heavy footfall accompanied by rough, guttural Galran began to echo down the corridor the two stood in. Blue’s eyes widened in surprise before he reached and grabbed Shiro’s wrist in a flash and before he knew it, they were flying down the hall.  
The two ducked and weaved like that through corridors and passageways. Visitors to the luxury cruiser were shoved aside as they forced their way through. They flew this way and that, stopped here, continued there. The entire time, Shiro let Blue guide him, not taking the time to doubt, again, whether or not he could be trusted. Had things been calm though, he didn’t think he would worry about if Blue was trustworthy. It was strange, how in just a few dobashes, his trust for this stranger had grown impressively. There was the sound of loud purring from the back of his mind, the sound of a giggle from a babbling brook. He stumbled momentarily before continuing as soon as he realized that the lion he had just heard wasn’t Black. It was the blue lion. He couldn’t help but be astounded- he had never heard any of the other lions before, not like this. A loud rumbling purr echoed through his mind. The strange purr from before! It hadn’t been Black!

“This way!” shouted Blue over his shoulder.

The two shot around a tight corner, heels skipping over the sleek metal underfoot. Another laugh rang out from Blue as he corrected his footing and began sprinting again. Suddenly, his footing went loose again and he fell to the ground. Shiro screeched to a halt, already reaching out to pick the man up and keep moving. That was when Blue started to spasm near uncontrollably.

“Quiznak,” Shiro swore under his breath as he fell quickly to his knees and rolled the man over as carefully he could.

His eyes had rolled back into his head and he continued to jerk spastically. Shiro wracked his brain, trying to reach back to the basic first aid he had been required to take in the Garrison. A seizure! That’s what this was. But, what did he do? How did he fix it?

As Shiro scoured his brain for answers, Blue’s sudden seizing had already stopped just as it had started- without warning. When he realized this, he focused back on the other man’s face. He was conscious, but he didn’t seem to be coherent. Shiro gently shook the man’s shoulders trying his best to rouse him back to a place of organized thought. The blue lion huffed, apparently displeased with his inconsiderate treatment of the stranger, and he huffed back in return. What else was he supposed to do? Blue blinked a couple times, his spacy gaze slowly narrowing back in on Shiro. He winced before rasping out, “Leave me behind. The lion’s just up ahead. Careful though, security’s gonna’ be a freakin’ nightmare.”

Two roars punctured loudly through Shiro’s thoughts. Ocean waves and large sea storms wailed in his head at the thought of leaving his new acquaintance behind, especially in this condition. Both Black and Blue seemed displeased and angered by the man’s selfless, though frankly stupid, suggestion. 

“Yeah, that’s not flying with the blue or black lion, sorry pal,” Shiro dismissed. The pounding of synchronized footsteps began to be heard again as they echoed down the corridor. Shiro looked back and forth between the corner that soldiers would eventually turn around, Blue Eyes, and the bay door that the blue lion sat behind. He couldn’t leave the man here, both Black and Blue had made that very clear with plenty of loud noises and intrusive thoughts. Alright, only one choice then. 

With a small grunt and almost no effort from Shiro, the man was hefted over his shoulders in a fireman carry.

“Wait! What? You can’t bring me!” came a weak cry from Blue Eyes.

Fists beat lamely against his back and feet kicked akimbo, trying to get Shiro to drop him. Was this kid insane?

“Again, the council of the blue and black lion has heard your decision, but considering it is a stupid decision, they have elected to ignore it,” Shiro replied simply as he began to book it down the corridor again. “Besides, you’ve been seen with me. If I leave you here, you get killed. And I seriously doubt you want that.”

Rather than the snarky retort Shiro was expecting, there was silence. They reached the door just as the small squad that had been trailing them turned the corner. It was now or never. Shiro threw his prosthetic hand over the hand reader, praying that it would work and let them through. The sound of laser fire began to echo through the air and there was a loud cry from the cargo that was draped unceremoniously across his shoulders. Quiznak! Just barely in time, the door hissed open and Shiro threw himself along with the man draped unceremoniously across his shoulders through the door before slamming it shut as quickly as he could. Just to take preventative measures, he forced his now-glowing fist through the reader to ensure that it couldn’t be used in the foreseeable future by any Galra trying to make their way through.

Shiro’s stomach roiled at the feeling of something warm beginning to run down his back, leaving a hot, sticky trail behind. This was really not good. Shiro wrangled the man on his back into his arms, checking him haphazardly for any immediately life-threatening wounds. He winced once he felt Blue’s back settle in his arms. There were definitely wounds that marred his back and just going off the blood on Shiro’s back alone, they were serious, but there wasn’t anything he could do about them right now. 

Shiro glanced up at his face, only to find the man had gone unconscious once again. His face was pale and seemed sickly. They had to keep moving. 

Thankfully, the hanger that the blue lion had been stowed in was empty of any guards or drones. Shiro didn’t take the time to think about how strange this was and instead looked up to the looming idol that sat in front of them, guarded by an impenetrable blue particle barrier. She was steady and firm and while Shiro tried to shoot her a scowl for putting them through all this nonsense, she did not deign to return any form of acknowledgment. Allura wasn’t kidding the few times she had referred to Blue as a diva.

Shiro quickly made the decision to ignore Blue’s snub for now in favor of running to the blue lion that loomed in front of them, legs shaking and breath coming out in short, shallow pants. As he ran up, the lion’s head swung over to him, her intense gaze burning through him. She let out a low rumbling sound, as if to signify this was a one time thing and that it would never happen again, ever, before lowering her particle barrier and majestic head to the ground. Her maw opened wide, allowing the two men to quickly clamber inside. Shiro heard the creaking of metal and whipped around, seeing the door they had come through being forced open.

“Blue, let’s go! Now please!”

With that, they were off.

Shiro used the last dredges of his energy to drag himself and his new guest to Blue’s cockpit before collapsing unceremoniously on the ground. The adrenaline had sapped his system and he glared out the front view screens.

“Blue. If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will see to it that Pidge removes all forms of autopilot you have,” Shiro threatened, voice weak.

The sound of a warm rumble echoed through the cockpit and vibrations ran up and down his back.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up now fuzzball,” he scowled, “I know where you sleep.”

Shiro turned his attention to the man in his lap and was met with a gruesome sight. He had fainted and Shiro didn’t know whether or not to be grateful for that fact. Reds and pinks were already pooling in his face where there would soon be fresh bruises from when he had fallen and smacked his face against the floor. His face, though it had appeared bright and lively while awake and moving, now appeared sallow and undernourished. The sharp angles were likely from poor nutrition rather than natural causes. Strange bruises lined under his chin, although these ones appeared to be older due to the coloring. What concerned him the most though, was his back. 

Shiro winced as he maneuvered the unconscious man to the floor. He managed to gently turn him over and almost immediately wanted to be sick. The smell of burnt flesh flooded his nostrils and the sight of the intense burn wounds from the lasers were ugly and an angry red. Blood oozed from the multiple wounds.

With a near quiet sigh, Shiro reopened his comm system and was immediately met with, “Shiro! What in the fresh hell were you thinking!? Wait! You weren’t! You big ol’ idiot!”

Ah Pidge, never a disappointment. A gentler, but still firm voice interrupted, “Shiro, do you copy? Are you there?”

Shiro let out a long sigh before nodding and stuttering out, “Y-Yeah. I’m here. Look, before you ask any more questions, tell Coran to ready a healing pod. I’m on my way back with Blue, but I’ve got a guest and he’s seriously injured.”

“Yessir, copy that,” Hunk said. “How about you?”

“I’m fine. No worries here,” Shiro responded back quickly.

Black let out an indignant huff at his response. It was obvious she didn’t believe him, but didn’t feel now was the best time to push him.

“Alright. Keith, Allura, and I are back at the castle. We managed to get out in the pod that you three flew over,” he informed.

“Good to hear,” Shiro shot back.

“...I’m glad to hear you’re okay Shiro. But, just a warning. The second you get back and settled and Blue is returned, you’re going to hear it from Allura and Keith. They’re furious. Pidge and I too. But don’t worry about that right now. Just focus on getting back to us, ya’ hear?”

Shiro ran a shaky blood-stained hand through his forelock of white hair. His breathing slowly evened out as he took deep, calming breaths. He was alive. He had made it out alive, and they had Blue. Things were looking up. Sure, it was still not a great day, but things could have been worse.

“I hear ya’ loud and clear big guy. See ya’ soon,” Shiro said softly.

“See ya’ soon you raging heterosexual,” Hunk echoed back, a joking lilt to his voice.

It was quiet now. He could breathe. He looked down at the man cradled in his arms and grinned. He had done it. He couldn’t save the group of slaves that had been there. He couldn’t free them from their shackles and run with them to freedom. They were going to be forced to serve their new masters in ways that were unimaginable. There would be so much heartache and pain and suffering between all of them. But, he could save this one person, just this one person. That was something to be proud of, something to look at and smile. 

Tears began to well up in his eyes. 

He had done it. Even if it was just one. It was one less person suffering, one less person crying themselves to sleep in a cell at night. One less person like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -sweats- did this move too fast? was it not fast enough? I have no clue? I have no beta? Just me and my stupid trash thoughts and desire to write literally 40 pages of a book in three days???
> 
> EDIT: Modified on 5/11/2018
> 
> -Billie <3


	4. The One Where Lance Wakes Up and Then Freaks Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting ya'll know, this chapter may have some triggers. Just nongraphic descriptions of events surrounding rape and stuff. I don't know if it's all that serious, but I wanted to let you guys know.
> 
> Also! Sorry this chapter is so short! Makes me feel a lil sad :c but it's here!
> 
> -EDITED: 5/19/2018

A hissing sound filled Lance’s ears as his body began to boot back to life. Feeling flooded back into his limbs, pins and needles sticking him simultaneously in what felt like ten thousand places. Light began to seep back into his vision and his head no longer felt like it was jammed full of cotton. A cool rush of air breezed out around him and the next thing he knew he was tumbling forward. Before he even had the chance to panic over the fact he was about to fall flat on his face, two arms had grabbed his shoulders and gently set him upright again. Gentle? Since when had they been gentle?

Lance soon became aware of the pounding behind his eyes. He wasn’t sure that he preferred it to the cotton feeling at all. It felt like someone had taken up a large rubber mallet and was swinging it nonstop at the back of his head. In short, it was not pleasant. 

“I know you’re probably in a lot of pain right now, but I need you to open up your eyes,” a voice uttered.

Oh yeah, that’s right. His eyes needed to open. That’s probably why he couldn’t see anything. Maybe that would make the headache go away?

He cracked his eyes open minutely, allowing the surrounding light to bleed in, but then immediately shut them with a strangled cry. Nope. The headache did not go away. In fact, there was not only one, but there were two people swinging sledgehammers at the back of his skull now. He gritted his teeth together as he fruitlessly fought down the tears threatening to leak from his eyes. Can’t cry, not here. They don’t like it when you cry, keep it together.

“Oh! I’m so sorry lad, let me turn down the lights in here,” came the same accented voice from before. Funny, it sounded vaguely as if the person was from New Zealand. Unlikely though, considering he was in space. He let out a small, amused snort. There weren’t any other humans out in space, let alone a New Zealander. Just him and three others the Galra had captured shortly after they took him. It was common for his mind to make up things that weren’t true, especially lately. It was better to be in his own head and pretending that he was at home than fully accepting what was going on around him. For example, the accent. It probably was an accent, but the person sure as hell wasn’t from New Zealand. The only three other humans in space with him were three Americans from the Garrison. Yeah, definitely not a New Zealander. Just his mind desperate for a reminder of home.

“Why don’t you try opening them up again now?”

Lance bit down on his tongue to keep the eager whimper from escaping his reluctant mouth. However, he did as the voice had suggested and slowly let his eyes flutter open to the dim room that he was sat in. His vision swayed back and forth, to and fro before it steadied to a somewhat solid picture. Warm surprise flooded his brain, quickly followed by an icy fear. This wasn’t The Praetor. There was far too much sharp whites and clean blues. In fact, there was no sign of the typical galran purple that he could see at all. He finally focused in on the concerned-looking, red-headed man standing in front of him. Had Lance not been looking close enough, he would have thought that this man was human, if it weren’t for the pointed ears that looked shockingly like Lance’s and markings that sat on his cheekbones directly beneath his eyes. His markings reminded Lance of the face paint he was sometimes required to wear.

Lance blinked once, blinked twice before his sluggish body finally caught up with his mind. His limbs jerked around as he twisted this way and that in panic, trying to get a full view of his surroundings. What happened! Where was he? His wide eyes flit from floor to ceiling, trying to find any sign of what ship he was on. No matter how much he wracked his brain, the make-the model, it just wasn’t familiar. He had never seen something of this design, and he had seen a lot of ships.

Panic sent his limbs into motion as he tried to clamber out of the bed. The weight and severity of his situation was pressing into him. He had abandoned The Praetor. He had to get back! He had to! If he didn’t… He didn’t want to think about that, not at all. His chest began to tighten as his limbs continued to try to get themselves under control and moving together in order for him to escape.

“My boy, please,” eased the man as he carefully forced Lance back to a reclining position on the cot he had been laid down on. “You’re going to injure yourself again if you’re not careful.”  
Lance finally let his tongue go as the pain began to course through his body again. The pathetic whimpers he had just barely been holding back were now let loose for anyone to hear. Every bone, every muscle, every nerve throbbed and pulsed with his heartbeat. His stomach was doing a trapeze act without a net beneath it and his heart was running like a horse at the Kentucky Derby. His head still continued to pound while his brain felt like it had launched itself into an incinerator. He could barely hear himself think, let alone acknowledge most of what was going on around him, because of the throbbing, cloudy pain that sat right behind his temples.

It wasn’t until a hand was wiping away at his cheeks that Lance realized he had been crying. Oh. His squirrely focus began to center itself again on the man in front of him. He had a sad look on his face, with upturned eyebrows and a downturn in his mustache as he finished wiping the coursing tears away from Lance’s cheeks.

“Wh-where am I-I? Why am I h-here?” Lance stuttered. Ugh. It felt like his tongue was made of cotton.

“You are aboard the Castle of Lions. You helped Number One- er, Shiro, find the blue lion, but you took heavy fire as the two of you were escaping. Shiro decided that simply would not do and brought you along with him back to the castle.”

Lance gave pause as his eyes widened in shock. Shiro? As in Takashi Shirogane, as in one of the three captured humans from Earth? As in Takashi Shirogane, Champion of the Galran arena? As in Takashi Shirogane, his personal hero?

The older man sat in front of him looked at him in concern, “Do you not remember the events leading up to your arrival here?”

“I- no. I can’t say I do,” Lance croaked.

A frown and heavy set brow marred the man’s pleasant features. Lance winced and burrowed back into the pillows supporting him as far as he could to try to escape the unpleasant frown. He didn’t like it when people frowned at him. A frown like that usually meant something bad; usually meant he had done something that they didn’t like. Shock raced across the man’s face before he schooled it into something more open and pleasant, once again.

“I’m sorry lad, didn’t mean to frighten you. Here, maybe this will help. My name is Coran, and I am the advisor to Princess Allura of Altea as well as the other four paladins of Voltron,” he said soothingly.

“Wait, Voltron?!” Lance choked out as he sat up a little straighter. Any further and the now-easing pain would come roaring back.

Coran’s eyes twinkled with slight mirth as he replied softly, “Yes indeed. Voltron.”

Lance eased himself back down, only to stare at the ceiling as warring emotions flooded his system once again. Voltron. That meant the stories were true. He had heard whispers from passing Galran footsoldiers, and the occasional slip of tongue from a higher stationed general here and there, but he had never let himself believe it. Galran soldiers had tendencies to be harsh, and it wasn’t unheard of for them to weave complicated tales of possible rescue only to crush them the next quintant. His hope had been a joke to them. But now, here he was. On the Castle of Lions, with Voltron. For the moment, he allowed the slowly burning hope to burn brighter in his chest.

“If you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you?” Coran’s voice rang in his ears, pulling him back to the present moment.

Lance hesitated momentarily. Old familiar feelings of doubt and distrust began to bubble in his chest as he mulled over Coran’s words. Questions. They were just questions. It wasn’t going to be an interrogation. This was Voltron and he was safe. He nodded slowly, cautiously.

A small smile cracked Coran’s solemn expression. “Perfect,” he beamed before schooling his expression into something more solemn and serious once again.

“You are under the heavy influence of a poison. Do you know what it is? So I may synthesize an antidote for you? I can tell you’re in what looks like excruciating pain. I’m sure time is of the essence,” Coran questioned earnestly.

Lance winced. He sincerely wished it was a poison that was pumping through his veins. That would have been far less worse than the truth.

“Not a poison. Drug. There isn’t an antidote. It’s called Oracle,” Lance rasped in response. He adjusted himself minutely, trying to find any comfortable position that didn’t put additional pressure on every bone in his body. Quiznak, everything hurt. He just wanted the pain to go away. But it wouldn’t, not anytime soon. From here on out, it would only get worse and worse until approximately eight quintants had passed. By then, the drug would have finally worked its way out of his system, but until then- he was stuck. Stuck in pain and in a fuzzy sense of somewhat-there consciousness.

Coran’s eyes seemed to widen in sharp recognition before his brows furrowed in confusion and concern once again.

“Oracle? It’s production stopped decapheebs before Princess Allura was even born. No one should know how to synthesize it. Not after 10,000 years,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

“Yeah, well, the Galra have a nasty habit of knowing things they probably shouldn’t,” Lance joked half-heartedly. Coran turned a steady, sympathetic eye to him. He wiggled uncomfortably, and honestly, he just wanted to shrink into nothingness. If Coran knew about Oracle, he knew exactly what it did, and what it’s primary use was. It was meant to keep the user lax and pliant. They rarely spoke a word and their senses were often greatly diminished. Usually, there was no memory of what happened while the user was under the influence of the drug. Lance definitely didn’t have many memories. The few things that he could remember, he firmly wished he didn’t. All he could ever recall was the overwhelming, smell of sweat and cloying aftershaves and perfumes, dark rooms, and an uncontrollable fear and overwhelming disgust. The disgust usually found directed towards himself.

“How long have you been on it?” Coran asked quietly.

“I think it’s been a decapheeb, but I’m not sure? This is kind of...the first in a long time that I’ve been completely off of it. Time’s kinda spotty when it’s being pumped through you nonstop,” Lance chuckled darkly. He knew what was happening. He was going through withdrawal. He knew that he was dependant on the drug now, that for any quality of life for the next eight quintants, he needed the drug to continue to course through his veins. He needed it to function. He felt the need down to his very core. It was his nectar and his ambrosia, his only reward for the suffering he went through.

Coran nodded steadily, letting silence fill the, what seemed-to-be, cavernous empty space between the two men. The silence was stifling. It weighed heavy on Lance’s chest and he wanted nothing more than for it to go away.

_“But you don’t get what you want,” a seething, hateful voice echoed in his ear._

That was it. The straw that broke the camel’s back. Lance felt tears rising again and before he could stop them, they were cascading down from his eyes and over his cheeks. He did his best to keep his sobs silent, to not let them disturb the man who sat across from him, lost in his own thoughts and questions. Lance wasn’t supposed to disturb people when they wanted quiet. It wasn’t his place, and he would be punished if he did. But it was to no avail. Nothing could silence the dark void that sat where his heart should have been. It's crying and snarling broke from Lance’s mouth in a choked sob and stuttered breath. He immediately flinched back and curled into a ball, ignoring the screams from his aching limbs.

“I-I’m sorry! Please do-don’t hur-hurt me! I know I-I sh-shouldn’t be c-crying!” he sobbed, his weak frame shaking with every forceful cry.

A quiet gasp was the only noise that broke through the sound of Lance’s sobbing. There was a soft pressure on his shoulder, then his neck, then carding through his hair. Lance tried to resist, tried to keep himself from falling again, but he just couldn’t. He was too tired and far too weak. He should resist this comfort- it was only temporary after all. But he just...couldn’t. He leaned into the hand and continued to cry.

He was pulled into someone’s lap and suddenly, he was back aboard the Praetor. Large, clawed fingers yanking through his hair in what was meant to be a soothing gesture, but was a far cry from actual comfort. The smell of sweat and body and wet dog permeated his nose and assaulted his senses. Raspy, broken voices telling him what a good job he did, he was so good. Lance only sobbed harder. He couldn’t do anything. He was trapped. He was alone. He was so, so alone.

His only respite was the warm sound of what seemed to be the ocean lapping at a peaceful shore.

~|-|~

Coran’s heart clenched painfully as he listened to the sobbing young man positioned in his lap. He didn’t know what else to do, how else to offer this poor soul comfort. He knew that the lad wasn’t in a good mental space currently, but also knew that if he let go, things would likely only get worse. He could retreat further into his own mind, become catatonic, or let the overwhelming need he must be feeling for the drug overtake him. He could become violent and injure himself more than he already had. So, Coran continued his ministrations by gently running fingers through dull brown hair and pulling the boy closer to his chest in an embrace. There wasn’t anything else he could do.

Coran wasn’t an idiot, he knew what had happened to the boy. Oracle had been developed initially for a very specific reason- the slave markets. It had been used to keep the “goods” sedate and peaceful. A drugged slave was one that didn’t fight back, didn’t bite, didn’t resist. A drugged slave was a good slave, according to the traders and buyers.

He had seen the boy’s medical scan as he sat in the pod, healing from the extensive blaster burns on his back. Severe bruising under the jaw and along the neck. Bite marks, old and new, across his shoulders and down his front and along his thighs. A recently fractured rib and a fractured pelvis. Claw marks sunk deep into his hips and ugly blue and black marks across his pelvic region. Coran knew that none of those marks or bruises or bites were there by choice. He knew what a human body scan was supposed to look like- the four human paladins had been in the healing pods enough for him to assemble an entire manual, goodness sake. Though it had thrown him initially upon discovering the young captive brought back by Shiro was indeed human and not any other type of alien, it soon made sense.

It wasn’t uncommon for slaves to be modified by their owners for optimal pleasure. Whether it be for aesthetic purposes or otherwise was left up to buyers. Between the boy’s now elongated ears and remnants of smudged body paint beneath his eyes, he was meant to be a mockery of the ancient Altean race who had long since vanished into the belly of time. He wasn’t angered or insulted though, rather, he felt nothing but pity for the poor boy in his lap.

Coran hadn’t the foggiest how the boy had ended up this far away from home, in the conditions he was in, and a part of him was dying to know- dying to learn the boy’s story. Another, more rational part of him, reeled in the curious knowledge-seeking part of him. There was no way that he could be asked any more questions right now, not with his state of mind and body. He was far too weak due to the withdrawals wracking his body and wreaking havoc upon his mind.

So, there Coran sat, on one of the cots on the edge of the medbay cradling a shaking, sobbing, very lost and very alone, alien-looking human boy out in the center of the big, lonely universe.

Eventually, vargas passed and the boy fell silent as his breathing evened out, for the most part, only disrupted here and there with a small hiccup or sigh. However, Coran did not set him aside and get up to move around. Instead, he stayed put in the center of the cot and allowed for the even breathing and brief reprieve from pain to continue.

The med bay doors swept open near silently, causing Coran to look up. Ah. There stood Shiro, silhouetted by the light that swept in from the hall behind him. He took a sure step in before apparently realizing the room was cast in dim lighting. He faltered and called out softly, “Coran? You in here?”

“Over here Shiro,” Coran responded in kind, careful not to wake the boy.

Solid steps strode over, stopping only a few feet away from the cot. Coran blinked a couple times, allowing his eyes to readapt to the dark room before looking up at Shiro. It was obvious, at least to Coran, that he was on edge around the young man in his arms and reflected that by the anxiety and hesitancy barely expressed in his movements. To the average person looking-on though, he would have appeared confident and maybe even overbearing. The tell was his eyes; wide and filled with an anxious light.

Shiro let silence echo for a couple ticks before asking, “Is he okay?”

In response, Coran simply raised a questioning eyebrow that seemed to ask ‘really?’.

Shiro ruffled the hair along the back of his neck uncomfortably before amending, “Are the blaster wounds healed? Is his back okay?”

Coran smiled up at the young black paladin before he gave a curt nod and said, “His back is completely healed, and there will be no scarring from the blasters. There is no worry there.”

Shiro’s shoulders seemed to slump in relief as he let out a sigh. He quickly pulled up a chair and sat down beside the cot, scanning the boy in Coran’s arms. His eyes flit over every visible inch of him, seemingly searching for injuries or telltale signs of pain. It was obvious that he was in pain, Shiro just wasn’t quite sure… why.

“Withdrawal,” Coran answered the unspoken question.

Large grey eyes looked at him in shock. “Withdrawal? As in drug withdrawal?” Shiro inquired, disbelief coloring his tone.

“Yes, indeed Number One. Withdrawal as in drug withdrawal,” Coran echoed.

A furrow drew itself between Shiro’s heavy set eyebrows as he stared hard at the boy, like he was trying to read his mind and collect his entire life story. Coran withheld an unneeded scoff. As if he hadn’t already tried that. Trust him, he had.

“Well? Is there anything else? Any other information he gave you? Like why he was on the ship? And where he’s from?” Shiro pushed.

“Shiro, you know that you and the princess are the very first I would inform if I had that type of information. He is in no shape for any sort of interrogation; he was barely able to tell me that he hadn’t been poisoned, but that it was a drug in his bloodstream,” Coran soothed.

Coran neglected to tell Shiro of what little he did know- the fact the boy was human and his previous quality of life being left on the back burner for now. It wasn’t his place to tell the other team members the lad’s story. Coran would allow the boy, when he awoke, to tell everyone what he deemed to. Coran wouldn’t take that opportunity away from him.

A frustrated snort left Shiro as he continued to level his calculating gray stare into the boy’s sleeping face. He looked much younger than both had first assumed when he had been awake but incoherent. His face had softened, ridding itself of wrinkles and worry, and all that remained was a young boy. It had been a near nightmare to get the lad into a healing suit for the pod. He had been mumbling incoherently the entire time in what had been a foreign language that none of the many translators could pick up on. The mumbling was interrupted frequently by violent body thrashes that upset whatever surface he was on.

The other paladins had looked on, initially, curiosity and worry painting their faces. When the boy had become near violent in his thrashing though, Allura had wrangled Hunk, Pidge, and Keith out of the room, leaving only him and Shiro to prepare the poor boy for the pod. In the end, though unwilling, Coran had needed to give the boy a gentle sedative so they could prevent him from hurting himself or the two others inadvertently. Shiro had soon left after that to soothe his fellow paladins and assure them that ‘yes, everything was truly alright’ and ‘yes, the man he had brought back was okay’ and ‘no, he didn’t know what type of alien he was’ and ‘yes, he certainly does look very much like an Altean Allura’.

~|-|~

Shiro continued to stare. He was sure that, by now, even Coran was set on edge by the number of piercing stares that were traveling straight from Shiro’s eyes into the boy cradled in Coran’s arms, but Shiro was just trying to remember! Memories played at the forefront of his mind and danced just out of his grasp. He couldn’t help but feel that they were important- so important. But he just couldn’t force himself to remember anything except flashes of sea blue eyes and caramel sunkissed skin.

So, there the three of them sat in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -puts off writing a formal research paper about sexual assault to write Voltron fanfiction about sexual assault-
> 
> Anyways! Sorry for that long break! Senior year is kicking my butt, but I'm almost done! Since I've updated last, I graduated from college w/ my associates, finished a massive senior project that I've been working on all year and finished it, taken multiple finals for my high school classes, and have been preparing to graduate from high school. Yikes.
> 
> But um, let's talk about Lance. My beautiful baby boy blue. Whomst'd've I love....to make suffer. I hope that I was able to communicate things okay in this chapter (my usual worry, as per usual -sips tea anxiously-) and also, Coran is a total dad who I love??? Like??? Really love Coran??? Please adopt me??
> 
> <3/Billie


	5. The One Where Lance is Actually Awake Now, and look! He's Cogent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will i ever not have weird, random, dumb chapter titles??? the answer is no
> 
> Hello, hi, yes this chapter was edited and reposted on 8/1/2018, because I didn't like it the way it was before. I didn't connect with it , as bizarre as that sounds, and it really frustrated me for the longest time, which is the biggest reason that it's been such a long time since an update. There were also some other things in real life that came up that I've had to deal with (though nothing bad! Just learning-to-be-an-adult things!) I don't want to promise constant updates, so I'm not going to, but I do want to say that I'm not abandoning this fic. It does hold a special place in my heart.
> 
> Okay, warnings:  
> \- Brief Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation  
> \- Description of Anxiety Attack(ish?)  
> \- Description of Mental Breakdown

The quintants spent on the ship tended to pass slowly ever since they had brought aboard the unknown guest. Well, unknown may not be the right term. All of the paladins, at this point, knew him somewhat from the interactions they shared with him when he was cogent and not under the effect of the drugs that were dwindling in his system, though that was rare. Most things they found out were relatively small, not necessarily impactful, but rather more of an intimate nature. 

Pidge found out that he had indeed heard of earth memes before and that he had seen a couple here and there and loved them with all his heart. He had regretfully informed Hunk that he did not know of the best space food, but there was some pretty good stuff out there that they could talk about later when it didn’t feel like his body was going to turn itself inside out. Keith decided he appreciated the guest plenty when he dominated and filled almost their entire conversation with his own comments and questions about life as a paladin of Voltron and saving the lives of millions of people. Plenty of social interaction for Keith with the upside of not having to talk too much- he could just sit and listen for all the other cared. Coran had formed a quick and fast attachment with the young man and took him under his wing, almost treating him as a son. It was rare that the blue-eyed boy was alone in the medbay.

Where the other paladins had bonded quickly with the young man, Allura could not have shown more disinterest. She did visit him occasionally and would speak with him for a few ticks here and there, but never tried to have a real conversation with him. She allowed her diplomatic training to take the wheel when they did converse and remained detached at best and slightly frigid at worst. 

Shiro himself had seen her at her lowest moment with their guest. He had tossed out a tacky, but not bad pickup-line and she had called his ears ugly in quick return. Almost immediately after the rude remark, the blue-eyed boy had lost any sign of a twinkle in his eye and his whole body seemed to shrink in on itself as he toyed with the outer edges of his pointed, Altean-like ears. It wasn’t long after that he had slipped back into the throes of withdrawal and had begun to cry out feverishly while his body jack-knifed off the bed. Both Shiro and Allura left then. Allura didn’t say anything as they parted ways that evening.

Strangely enough, this did not deter the young man. If anything, he was more determined to force the Princess to acknowledge his cheesy advances. He flirted with her whenever she stepped into the room up until the moment she would walk out. It was frankly impressive how many lines he could get out while staring dully at the ceiling in pain. However, she never deigned him with a response.

One evening, when all the paladins, save Shiro and Coran, had left the medbay, Shiro took the opportunity to ask a question that had been pressing him. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt compelled to ask.

“Why?”

Dull blue eyes glanced over to him. Shiro wasn’t looking at him but could see him out of the corner of his eyes. He could feel the heavy weight of the other’s gaze.

“Huh?”

“Why do you keep flirting with the Princess?” 

Coran had paused his fiddling in the corner of the room. Shiro felt like an idiot but wasn’t quite sure why. Coran looked up to Shiro with a quirked eyebrow and a concerned turn of the lip, but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t often that Coran was quiet about something. He was almost always quick to jump in with sage, if not wordy advice, and would quickly redirect the paladins towards the right goal. The only time Coran was quiet when it was very sensitive and very serious. Well shit. Shiro began to panic internally, that hadn’t been the right thing to ask. Why couldn’t he read the room like a freaking normal person-

“Why are you asking? You jealous of her?” purred a raspy voice.

Shiro snapped his head around the stare in wide-eyed shock at the blue-eyed boy. A choked coughing sound could be heard coming from Coran’s general direction, but Shiro was far more concerned with fighting the blood that was threatening to rush to his cheeks out of embarrassment. A lascivious grin curled across the man’s face. It looked real. It sounded real. If it walked like a duck and sounded like a duck, then it was a duck, right? But, upon close inspection of the still-dulled blue eyes, it was obvious this was a mask. 

Shiro finally managed to force out a strangled, “No.”

Great. He sounded like a teenage boy again. He had been here and done this squeaky voice thing already. He would very much like to avoid going through it a second time, thank you.

“No. I was just wondering why you keep flirting with her when it’s obvious to everyone she isn’t going to give you the time of day.” Shiro articulated.

Just like that, the mask had dropped in a flash and all that stared at him was a blank and sunken face devoid of all emotion. It was there for just a moment before the man had rolled over to his side. Double shit. Shiro really hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. Didn’t mean to make it sound so...hopeless. 

He went to correct himself, soften his words, but was interrupted with a soft, “Dunno’.”

A soft hand had laid itself on his shoulder. Shiro looked to his side and saw Coran there, looking sympathetic. He didn’t say anything, just shook his head briefly before turning towards the bed and beginning to soothe the young man.

He stopped flirting with the Princess after that.

It didn’t seem to matter to Allura.

When Shiro had asked her about this, she had responded with a simple, “He was in the heart of a Galran Cruiser in the middle of space and is going through withdrawal because he had been under the heavy influence of a dangerous and highly addictive drug. Am I wrong to not trust him, let alone not have a desire to form any type of bond with him?”

As Shiro had gone to reply, he realized that everything she said was true. They had no clue as to who the new passenger was. Sure, they knew his favorite color (indigo) and what color of food goo he preferred when he could actually stomach something without the food making a reappearance an hour later (green) but they didn’t actually know anything about him. His name alone was a mystery, along with where he was from, how he ended up on a luxury Galran Cruiser in a Galran soldier garb, and how he had such ready access to such an addictive drug. Coran had given them just a short debrief of the drug, describing it as being used primarily for pleasure, but had given no further explanation. 

Shiro’s heart yearned for him to reach out to the other young man and feel sympathetic to his plight. He had been in poor condition and obviously wasn’t Galra. The only obvious conclusion that Shiro could come to was that he had been a prisoner. It was the only thing that even remotely fit. That was something that Shiro could relate to- being a prisoner. However, his brain trumped his heart. It forced him to set aside whatever emotions and sympathetic urges he had in favor of cold, hard logic. He had to remember to be a leader first and put his makeshift family’s safety ahead of what he felt. The fact of the matter still remained. They didn’t know who this stranger was, and Shiro would not let him be an uncalculated threat to the family he had now.

While it was true he had decided to put logic first, his emotions were still doing backflips and jumping jacks and entire gymnastics routines when he thought of a certain pair of ocean-blue eyes.

His heart told him to befriend and even possibly woo the young man while his head screamed at him to not let the young man close to anything that could be easily thrown off or disturbed. Like his makeshift family. All in all, it was a whole lotta’ trouble.

Blue on her own had been trouble enough lately. Where she had been a diva and standoffish to Allura before, she was now behaving like, as the kids say, a heinous bitch. She would rarely lower her particle barrier to the Princess now, and when it was lowered, it was only for the most desperate situations when Voltron was indisputably needed. When Allura would inevitably venture, once again, to speak with the great beast, the lion would turn her head so she was looking straight up to the ceiling rather than even consider the thought of looking at the Princess. It had made Shiro and the others chuckle in secret, behind closed doors and hastily thrown up hands. They got it. They knew where Blue was coming from. They really did. Allura could be demanding and just as much of a diva as Blue. (They weren’t going to let Allura clue into the fact that they were struck with a vague sense of humor whenever she and her lion had a tiff. Even Pidge claimed to have some form of sympathy. No one wanted to be laughed at when they struggled.) However, after it happened time after time after time, they were all finally growing concerned.

It was around then when Allura completely stopped visiting the guest that they hosted aboard the ship.

So, yeah. There was no ‘wooing’ in store for him. He shook his head and snorted in amusement. Who even used the word wooing anymore? Was he suddenly in a period piece in medieval England? 

“Shiro! Shiro, Shiro, Shiro!” came a screech, followed by the sound of skidding feet across a slick metal floor. Ah, Pidge. It was a familiar sound by now.

He looked up from his data-pad with a good-natured grin and chuckled, “Careful, you’ll leave skid marks.”

A simple snort was all that was used to meet his remark before she continued, “Come on! Pull your head out of the clouds! He’s awake! For real this time!”

She darted forward and grabbed ahold of his sleeve before tugging him incessantly towards the doors that led to the hallway that would eventually lead to the medbay. Her petite hand was surprisingly strong as it held his forearm in a death-grip, Shiro observed as he was tugged near-violently down the hall. Huh. At this rate, she may just manage to cut all circulation off in his one organic hand. Wouldn’t that be a shame? 

So, he gently chided, “Pidge, ease up just a little. With how tight you’re squeezing my arm, I might need you to make another prosthetic to replace it after it falls off because you’re cutting off my blood flow. He’ll still be there 2 minutes from now.”

Pidge blushed and smiled abashedly, but her grip remained, though less ‘snake-hunting-its-prey’-like and more ‘Hunk-hug’-like. Their speed did not decrease. 

The two finally slowed as the doors to the medbay hissed open, revealing a chaotic and rather confusing scene. Loud weeping could be heard from a seemingly distraught Hunk who was collapsed into a boneless heap on the floor. Nestled in his arms in one of his signature Hunk Hugs™, was the castle guest. Tears were streaming down his face in fast rivulets, though his cries were silent. His entire body shook with the force of the silent sobs clawing their way out of his lean frame. Coran and Keith looked on from a couple feet away, hands outstretched as if to help, but not sure how. Both looked terrified, bordering on constipated. Pidge and Shiro shared a dubious look before cautiously walking the rest of the way into the room.

“Is everything okay in here?” Shiro ventured curiously.

Keith looked to Shiro with pure panic painted across his face. Social situations were uncomfortable for him in general, and when you added in roiling emotions and unsteady mental states, you were left with a Keith that could do nothing more than mouth ‘help me’ to anyone he felt could get him out of the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sure enough, not even three seconds later, there was the familiar silent movement of Keith’s mouth.

_‘Help me!’_

Pidge trotted over to Keith’s side; it was obvious she had as little clue as to what was happening as he did. So, that left Shiro. Right. He was the leader. Of course.

“Hunk, dios mío!¡Pensé que estaba soñando! Pero en realidad eres tú, ¡estás realmente aquí!” sniffled the stranger.

A flash of recognition shot like a bullet through Shiro. Spanish. He was speaking Spanish. The alien boy with the ocean-blue eyes and pointed ears spoke Spanish. How the quiznack did he speak Spanish?

“L-Lance, I thought- I didn’t want to think that it was you! I’m sorry! I should have recognized you! I should’ve convinced myself that it actually was you that Shiro brought back- Stupid! Stupid! Wait! Man! You’re supposed to be dead! Everyone thought you were dead!”

Confusion flooded Shiro’s mind. Lance? Was that the young man’s name? And wait, how did Hunk know him? They were in the middle of space. How? What? He looked over to Pidge trying to gauge her degree of confusion because there was no way that even Pidge knew what was going on, but where he expected them to share the same confused expression, he was proven wrong. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she stared Lance down, as if trying to place him as a face she had seen once before.

“To be f-fair, I-I thought I w-was dea-dead too,” choked out Lance. He was grinning from ear to ear, holding Hunk’s face almost desperately in his hands. It was then that Shiro saw Hunk was grinning too. It was a strange sight, though felt intimate and tender and it seriously felt like Shiro and the others were butting in on a very private moment. So, Shiro respectfully turned his head towards the ground but allowed his mind to continue tumbling down its confused train of thought.

The sound of quiet sniffles and elated giggles filled the empty spaces between everyone. For the first time in nearly a week, the dark heavy cloud that had seemed to hang over everyone’s heads lifted.

Coran finally stepped forward and cleared his throat. He must have realized that Shiro was definitely not going to do anything. He was still very confused and lost. It did not matter that he let his brain hurtle down its windy questioning path in trying to piece together the truth. The only thing it had managed to do was overwork itself and then spontaneously combust as a result. It must have been obvious by the look on his face because Coran gave him a sympathetic, if not similar look. At least he wasn’t alone in his confusion, god bless Coran.

“How about we take this to somewhere more comfortable? Perhaps the lounge?” Coran interjected softly.

“R-Right. That sounds a lot better than a cold metal floor,” Lance chimed.

By the time that Shiro’s brain had managed to move past its blue screen and reboot, they were all sat in a circle on the couch, including Allura. Lance had been given a piggyback by Hunk. He hadn’t asked for it, but the moment he stood and everyone saw his knock-kneed stance and unsteady gait, Hunk had silently swooped forward and slung Lance across his back. Lance didn’t say anything, and everyone else saw fit to keep quiet as well. Pidge had also gotten a piggy-back ride, although this one was offered by a reluctant Keith after the short girl had quietly bemoaned her lack of sleep and how she was just beat and really, Shiro had been practically deaf earlier, and do you know how much effort it was just to get him to pull his head out of the clouds? 

All of this went on around a dazed Shiro. He was still too baffled by the fact that apparently, Hunk had enough time to meet and get to know an alien boy in the middle of space. The fact that he managed to stumble across said alien boy, who happened to be friends with Hunk, in a Galran starship while they were chasing after a petulant blue lion was beyond baffling. It was mind-blowing. No. Not mind-blowing. Mind-destroying.

The ragtag group had run into Allura as they were strolling to the lounge. She hadn’t said a word. She looked between Hunk and Lance tracing the tear stains that ran down both of their faces, then to Shiro, then back to Hunk and Lance to take in the comfortable position that Lance held on Hunk’s back, before finally settling on Shiro again. He shared the sentiment as her lips puckered and her eyebrows furrowed into a confused look. So, he shrugged and gestured for her to fall in line next to him. She had, and the group had continued on in silence. Now, they were here.

The silence was awkward for a long minute before Pidge let out an exasperated sigh.

“Alright, since no one else will ask about the enormous elephant in the room, and get this damn conversation started, I will. Hunk. Who the hell is he and how the hell do you know him?” she deadpanned.

Shiro couldn’t find it in him to remind her of ‘language’, in fact, he was rather in agreement.

Lance wiggled uncomfortably in his seat but said nothing. Hunk glanced over at him, a look of concern marring his normally bright features. When Lance still said nothing, Hunk looked back to the collective group and responded slowly, cautiously, as if he was trying to pluck the exact words he needed from a vine, “This is Lance and he’s...from Earth.” They all sat in silence, letting the sentence set in. 

Quiet had fallen once again. That seemed to be happening a lot this past week. Shiro didn’t think he liked it. He sat and watched Lance twiddled his thumbs anxiously, not looking up to the others and instead staring down at the floor, avoiding any and all eye contact. Shiro gaze bored into Lance, trying to mentally will the boy to look up. Shiro couldn’t read his expression, couldn’t see the thoughts flitting across his face. But he could see his ears.

What. This didn’t make sense. Shiro double-checked, even triple-checked. Lance definitely did not have human ears. They were long and pointed- there was definitely more skin and cartilage in Lance’s ears than there was in any of the humans’ ears. Shiro could have sworn that Lance had markings just below his eyes, faded but still existent. His features had been reminiscent of an Altean’s. Shiro had figured he was a descendant of Alteans that had managed to escape the destruction of their homeworld. Evidently not.

There was a strangled, “He’s what?! How did you not recognize him until now? He was on board for a week!”

Shiro glanced over at Keith, who sat pale and ashen, jaw dropped in shock.

Hunk shrugged sheepishly as Lance rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. Hunk slowly started, “Well, he looks terrible. No offense buddy.”

“None taken.”

Hunk continued, “He’s lost a lot of his tan, and a lot of weight, and also you tend to deny that the people you think are dead are actually out in space.” He ended with a dark, self-deprecating chuckle.

Lance leaned into Hunk, using him as support while simultaneously offering him a warm, gentle hug. Again, their movements with each other were soft and familiar. Almost familial.  
When Shiro turned his sharp attention to Lance, looking for his reasoning, all he did was murmur, “I was high off my ass half the time and in some pretty awful pain, because of withdrawal, the other half.”

Pidge sat next to Keith, a calculating and decisive look in her eye as she pressed, “How do you know each other?”

Lance finally spoke up when Hunk hesitated and said, “We grew up next to each other for most of our lives. Hunk’s family moved to Cuba from Samoa when we were both, like, four years old? Yeah, it was about four I think. We were best buds.” Here, Lance smirked and nudged Hunk’s shoulder, almost playfully.

Pidge let out a dramatic gasp as she sat straight up and cried, “You’re the Lance! Hunk talked about you all the time at the Garrison!”

A genuine grin stretched across Lance’s face as he hooked an arm around Hunk’s neck and pulled him down for a sloppy teasing kiss on the cheek.

“I knew you loved me, bro! You’re going to make me blush- talking about me when I’m not there!” Lance crowed.

Just like that, the heavy cloud was broken.

Hunk sputtered, “Who said that it was good things she heard?”

Pidge leveled a look at him and then snarked back, “Please. You never said one bad thing about him. I thought he was your boyfriend for a long time, honestly.”

Shiro sat and watched the game of verbal ping-pong bounce between the three, content with leaving himself out of it for a while. It was easier to just silently observe this way, a handy trick he had learned from Keith. Besides, he needed a few more moments to just comprehend the information he had just been given, let alone even begin to understand it fully. The three had a natural, easy chemistry that flowed and bubbled without losing steam or energy. It was nice, actually, to see both Pidge and Hunk this at ease.

Sure, there were times where the two would sit back and relax, but it wasn’t frequent. Pidge had been obsessed with finding her brother and father and she rarely took time to rest. Even after they had found Matt, she was still on a constant edge, just waiting for something bad to happen. She was a prepper. Her religion was statistics and code and fact and if something could not be predicted or could not be mapped out in a few minutes, she was on unsteady ground. As a result, she had a tendency to be short with everyone, including herself. It wasn’t rare for Shiro to find her in near-breakdown mode, berating herself over and over. The way that she talked to herself when she got like that was not pleasant. They were words that Shiro would never actually say to someone’s face, let alone use to describe Pidge. So, on the rare occasion she did break down, Shiro would be sure to pull her back together as best he could. His patch jobs and his encouragements were never enough to prevent another inevitable break down, but they did enough in the moment. Afterward, she always came to him and apologized while simultaneously thanking him for his help. She always made sure that he knew she didn’t actually think those awful things about herself, yes it was just because she was frustrated and stressed, and yes she was going to be okay and that the likeliness of this ever happening again was very very low, heck, it probably wouldn’t ever happen again. Every time, both of them knew that she was lying when she said she would be okay. Every time, both chose to turn a blind eye.

And Hunk. It was common knowledge aboard the ship after he had been found huddled in the fetal position in the kitchen in the middle of an awful anxiety attack, that the Samoan had severe anxiety. His attack had been triggered by the fact that there was a timer set on the food storage- He couldn’t access the food. He couldn’t get to his one guaranteed way to calm himself. He couldn’t bake. The timer had been set in place 10,000 years ago to keep young wards aboard the castle from sneaking to the kitchen in the dead of night and pilfering all the good snacks from the storage. Coran had removed the timer shortly after. Shiro had sat down and had a talk with Hunk after the team had been able to ease him from his attack. Yes, Hunk did take medicine. No, he did not have it with him. Well, he hadn’t been expecting to be launched into space, so he didn’t happen to have his medicine with him at the time. Most of his attacks were triggered by small things but were caused by much larger things. Generally, a loss of control. He had learned, over time, how to manage it as best he could and, generally, the man did a great job. He knew tons of breathing exercises and was a near expert yogi. But, there were still days that were worse than others. Anxiety would still creep in and cause his breath to come in short spurts and cause his chest to seize and his appetite to vanish and his mind to race and everything to run out of his control and it would not matter what he did, the anxiety attack would come. 

So. This was the first time in a very long time that Shiro had seen both Pidge and Hunk this at ease. It was nice.

A somber tone, Pidge, interrupted Shiro’s thoughtful observations, “So, space. That’s a long way from home.”

Shiro could see Lance immediately withdraw inside himself, again. It was in the way his shoulders hunched up to his ears and his eyes darted back to the ground. He remarked with a simple, “Yeah. It is.”

Hunk looked at him, worry evident in his warm brown eyes. He set a large, calming hand on Lance’s shoulder and began, “Lance…” He paused for a moment, brow furrowing. What was he going to say? He shook his head before he continued, “What happened man? You just...vanished. The day before we were supposed to leave.”

Lance shrugged noncommittally. He mumbled, “I dunno’ I just...the night before I-” his brow furrowed in frustration as he gestured with his hands. It was obvious he was trying to communicate something, but no one could figure out what.

He sighed deeply. Rubbed his face with his hands. Continued to rub his face. It was almost like he was trying to scrub away his own skin.

After a long moment of quiet, Lance whispered, “Let me try again.”

Another pause. No one interrupted.

He finally began, “The night before, I went out surfing without telling anyone. Momma would’ve killed me if she knew I was going night-surfing, and all of my siblings were asleep, and I didn’t want to stress you out by telling you I was going night-surfing, so I just- I dunno’ I just didn’t.”

Hunk interjected, “Lance! You know night-surfing is dangerous!”

Lance shot him a look and responded, “Case in point.”

Hunk had enough sense about him to bow his head briefly in chagrin.

Lance chuckled quietly before he continued, “Anyways, I was sitting on my board, out in the middle of the water. I just wanted to take it all in one more time before we headed mainland to go to the Garrison. It was perfect. The stars on the water, it was like I was already in the sky.” A soft reminiscent smile softened his frown.

“That was when-” he sighed, “That was when it happened. I was just sitting out there, then all of a sudden there’s this huge circle of purple light surrounding me and the next thing I know I’m starting to float up into the air and I’m trying to grab onto my board, trying to stay on it and stay on the ground like a freaking normal person, but I just kept floating up. I saw my board go under. The waves were acting funny, ‘cause of the beam, and they stole my board. I remember seeing it break. I dunno’, I think that’s when the panic finally set in.”

He fidgeted again with his nails and hands, twisting them this way and that. His nails were short and looked to be gnawed down to the quick. There were no other signs of wear though, no other signs of rough labor or harsh treatment. Strange, every other Galra captive he had seen had been rough looking, to say the least. Lance sat in front of them, in near perfect condition. No signs of scarring on his hands or forearms, no limp, no chronic injuries, nothing. Strange.

Lance took a deep breath, steadying himself, before he resumed, “I realized that even if I did get back down to the water, I was so far off the beach that it would have taken me way too long to get back to shore. I hadn’t realized how far off I had drifted. So, there I was. Stuck between the ocean and the sky. Neither a pleasant option, but I wanted to live. So, I made a choice. The Galra took me prisoner, made me do normal prisoner things, I managed to escape, and here I am.”

Shiro leaned back against the cushion of the couch as Lance quickly wrapped up his story. Something felt off about it. He didn’t doubt that Lance had been captured by the Galra, it had happened to him too. What was off, or rather, what was missing was the rest of the story. He heard the introduction, and he knew the ending, but everything in between had been quickly glossed over. Though it made sense to not talk about the Galra, or his experience being one of their prisoners. It was rare that Shiro shared any experiences from his time as a Galra prisoner with his fellow paladins. He never shared the pain he suffered or the thoughts he had or the experiences he went through in the arena. He left those in his own head, where others wouldn’t have to be affected by them. They were his trials, and he didn’t want to burden any of the others with any of his numerous problems. So, truly, he understood. That still didn’t change the fact that something in his gut told him that it was just off.

He glanced to Coran, to see if he shared his same sentiments regarding Lance’s story, but was surprised to see silent tears rolling down from his eyes. It struck something in Shiro, to see the older man this distraught. The only other time he had ever seen Coran like this was when he and Allura reminisced on their past lives and previous home. He never intruded into these conversations. Though never explicitly told so, Shiro felt that those conversations shared between the two remaining Alteans were near sacred. They were meant to be shared with each other, with someone who could understand. It was not something meant for outsiders. It was a tradition to be shared with your own.

“Well, what now?” Keith interjected into the silence.

“What?” questioned Hunk, “What do you mean, what now?”

Keith made a frustrated-sounding noise and gestured at Lance before he reiterated, “What now?”

“Keith, you can’t just gesture at someone! That’s rude! And that doesn’t explain what you mean,” Hunk huffed.

Keith let out a long-suffering sigh before he answered, “Do we take him home? Do we keep him on the castle? Do we drop him off at the next pit-stop?”

An assaulted gasp met their ears as Lance shrieked, “A pit stop!? In the middle of space? You expect me to know where to go from there?!”

A palm made its way down Keith’s face as he retorted, “No, no, no. Urgh. No. That’s not what I meant.”

Pidge sighed and threw her head back to rest on the back of the couch. She patted Keith’s upper arm and consoled, “It’s okay Keith. We all know that your conversation skills are severely lacking.” As a retort, he scowled and smacked her hand away in irritation.

Allura finally spoke up, “It’s best he stay aboard the castle for now.”

“Wait! Woah, woah, woah. Why do I have to stay aboard,” interjected Lance. “Don’t I get a say in this? I want to go home. I can’t stay out here in space. My- my family is back on Earth. They think I’m dead.”

Allura cooly countered, “You are the same as all the other paladins then. We cannot take the time that would be needed to return you home. Our place is here, defending the universe.”

“It can’t be that hard to turn this ship around for just a day and zoom back to Earth and drop me off. I’ve seen the ships out here travel, and lady you’ve got a Lambo of a ship. There’s no way it’s not a bada-bing-bada-boom matter.”

Allura’s jaw set.

This wasn’t good. Good things didn’t happen to people when her jaw set.

Her brows furrowed.

This was worse than expected.

The elegant markings that sat just below her eyes began to glow and pulse, almost threateningly.

Shiro definitely had never seen this. This was unprecedented levels of bad. But why was this bad? There was no reason for Allura to react like this.

“I said no,” she censured. Her tone was ice and her body language was the silent blizzard that threatened destruction. She was a force to be reckoned with.

A deep, threatening scowl broke Lance’s previous at-ease expression. His eyes darkened to the color of a stormy sea and a dangerous glint found its way into his eyes. If Allura was a blizzard then Lance was a hurricane. Loud, looming, and catastrophic. He stalked up to where Allura stood, and both faced the other down. It was like standing on the edge of a cliff watching the two forces of nature come to blows. It was dark, messy, tempestuous, and particularly dangerous. The air surrounding the small group began to crackle with an uncomfortable energy as Lance glared into Allura’s cool crystal blue eyes.

He sneered and jabbed a finger into Allura’s sternum as he gritted out, “My place is at home. I’m not a defender of the universe. I’m not a paladin of Voltron. I’m not your prisoner and you have no right to hold me so. Let. Me. Go.”

Coran stood to intervene, but Allura held out a calm, steady hand and signaled for him to wait patiently. Shiro shifted uncomfortably in his seat, along with all the other paladins.  
Allura continued to stare him down icily as she snarled, “No. You will stay here. And that is final.”

Lance’s hands clenched into tight fists- so tight that his knuckles were white and his fists shook. Shiro was terrified that he was about to deck Allura in the face, which would leave them all in a very uncomfortable and frankly awkward situation, to say the least. Instead, he glared her down a couple seconds more before he turned around and silently stormed out. Shiro watched with wide eyes as the doors hissed to a shut behind him and the others all sat in shocked silence.

No one knew what to do- what to say. What the hell had just happened? Hunk stumbled to his feet quickly before managing to trip out, “He doesn’t know his way around, I’ll go give him a tour.” With that, he was gone.

Pidge soon followed after with, “I’m going to make sure that neither of them gets lost. Or break something? Anyways, I’m just gonna-” She shot up and darted out of the room without another word. And then there were four.

Allura sighed and slumped down into the couch, holding her head in her hands. All the fight and ice left her body. All that was left was a small, sad, gust of wind. Coran sighed deeply before sitting down next to her, gently rubbing comforting circles into her back. Keith and Shiro wandered over, neither quite sure where they were supposed to go. However, Shiro was 95% sure that Lance would be okay with Pidge and Hunk. And, truthfully, Allura took priority here. She was an actual part of her team. Lance was just a boy from earth who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That didn’t mean that Allura wasn’t at fault. It just meant that he had to make sure she was okay first. Shiro sat down on her other side and Keith plopped himself down on the floor in front of the three of them. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his palms as he gazed on silently, allowing the others to begin the conversation.

“Allura?” Shiro ventured.

A muffled, “I’m an awful person,” came from behind her hands.

Shiro took a moment to gather his thoughts before he remarked, “That wasn’t a good way to go about that Allura.”

Her only response was a drawn-out groan.

“What on Earth was that? Why can’t he go home Allura?” Shiro ventured.

Allura raised her head from her hands, revealing watery, tear-filled eyes. She kept her gaze targeted at the floor and her back hunched. In a few words, she looked nothing like she normally did.

“The Blue Lion has not spoken to me willingly even once since he has been aboard,” she whispered.

Shiro frowned at that. Why would the blue lion care at all about Lance? How would Lance prevent the blue lion from communicating with Allura? Wouldn’t that mean that she would want Lance off the castle ship? 

“Oh,” Keith whistled, his eyes wide and shocked. Something had seemed to click in his mind, something that Shiro was missing.

Coran had picked up on her meaning as well, by now. He nodded once before he stood and walked to Keith and tugged the red paladin out of the room with him, with a hasty “Pods need cleaning!” thrown over his shoulder. Shiro could overhear hushed whispers between the two as they left, but kept a steady gaze on Allura.

“Allura. I don’t understand. What do Blue and Lance have to do with each other?” Shiro ventured slowly. He knew he was missing something. He knew it was big and obvious and the moment that Allura revealed what the connection was, he was going to feel like the densest idiot in the world. But, that didn’t change the fact that he was still lost.

Allura groaned and reached up frantically to her hair, tugging on the roots gently out of exasperation. Whether it was with herself, with Shiro, her lion- he didn’t know. 

“Shiro. The last thing that I heard Blue say was ‘Hello Paladin’, and I know for a fact that it wasn’t directed at me,” she whispered dejectedly.

It hit Shiro like a freight train. Oh.

The two sat, allowing their own thoughts to take the reigns for the moment. Shiro could see the defeat painted across Allura’s face. It was easy to see. Occasionally, it would be masked by disdain, but the wrinkle in her nose never lasted long. He could tell that she wanted to be mad- to stay mad- she wanted to yell and rage and fight for her place on the team, for her place in their makeshift family. She desperately wanted to let Lance go home; wanted things to go back to the way they were. But it was too late. Something had shifted. Something minute. But, minute differences had a tendency to wreak havoc on the reality they existed within. Such was the universe.

The silence between them was broken with a scoffed, “I’m sorry. This is a rather silly thing to be upset about, isn’t it?”

Shiro shook his head vehemently. That was a line of thinking that needed to be fixed right now.

Shiro asserted fiercely, “Allura. It’s not silly.”

The Altean princess turned to look at him, eyes wide and watery once again. Shiro tended to forget how young she was. How young they all were. It wasn’t until times like these when he was reminded. When Hunk was having an anxiety attack; when Pidge was having a nervous breakdown; when Keith was overwhelmed by all the noise and the people and all the strange things they saw; when he was caught in his own bouts of flashbacks. They were all very, very young and fought a very, very old war.

Shiro set a firm hand on her shoulder and asked, “Why don’t you go speak to Blue?”

Allura was silent, but her bottom lip trembled. She wrung her hands worriedly.

Finally, she uttered, “What if she doesn’t say anything back?”

Shiro brought both hands to her shoulders, forcing her to look straight into his gaze. He held her focus and assured, “Then we figure it out. But the world isn’t over. Don’t be so quick to jump to assumptions. Maybe you just need to do some more bonding with Blue. You yourself said she’s always been a diva.”

Allura cracked a faint smile at that before wiping discreetly at her eyes.

“She truly has. I will try speaking with her,” Allura said. Shiro lifted his hands off of her shoulders and watched her walk to the door. She momentarily paused before she glanced over her shoulder and added, “And...thank you, Shiro. You’re a good leader.” 

Shiro smiled, “You are too, Princess.”

She turned to walk out the door before Shiro called out, “Oh! Allura!” The Princess paused, again, as Shiro added, “You will need to speak with Lance again.”

He could see her tense and tighten as if already dreading the future interactions they would share, but she didn’t say anything. He was met with a silent nod before she finally left the room, leaving only Shiro with his thoughts.

Well. No one was dead. That was a plus.

~|-|~

Lance was furious. No, he was beyond furious. Everything burned with a righteous fury. Bright red dusted his face and ears. He always had been a mad-blusher (and a mad-crier, though he told himself that the tear tracks on his face were just remnants from his reunion with Hunk earlier). The heat rose from his face as he stormed down another strange corridor. Frankly, he could get lost for all he cared. This was nothing like what he wanted. He had just gotten out of a prison and now he was trapped in another one. It didn’t matter that he was safe now, he was still trapped. He had no choice.

No choice.

The righteous fury began to quickly lose its steam as Lance finally slowed to a quiet shuffle. Of course, he had no choice in being here. He hadn’t had a choice in anything the past three years. Of course, that didn’t change now. What had ever happened that made him think that it would change?

Lance snorted derisively. That was the nature of man, wasn’t it? To hope for something so strongly that you end up deluding yourself. Nothing changed.

Nothing had changed.

Nothing would change.

This was just another cell- another cage. There may be no chains, no strangers let in each night, no fire being fed into his veins that kept him pliant and quiet. But, he was still here. In space. Not at home. What had he done wrong in his life? Had he done something so morally and intrinsically wrong that karma decided to take a huge chomp out of his ass? He just wanted to go home. He wanted to see his Momma again, wanted to see all his siblings, and his aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and- why? Why was he here? He just wanted out.

Lance clawed at his hair in frustration, wanting nothing more to yank it out. It would have been satisfying- grounding. Grounding. He needed to ground himself, pull himself back in. Breathe. Hold. Release. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hold. Release. Release. Release...

He was himself. He existed. Lance gulped down huge mouthfuls of air after he came back to himself. He wasn’t tailspinning anymore. He had control of himself. He could move all his fingers and all his toes. He wasn’t tailspinning.

Then he remembered the fact that Takashi Shirogane was the black paladin. A groan managed to drive itself out of him. Great. Of course. That’s right. Karma hated him now. How was Shiro not wanting to fire bullets straight into Lance’s skull? Because Lance definitely wanted to fire bullets through his own skull after what had happened. It was his fault. It was his fault that Shiro spent so long in Galran captivity. Did Shiro not remember him? It felt impossible. Shiro should remember him, should hate him. But he didn’t. He didn’t remember a scrawny but hopeful Lance that had promised to get him out safely because ‘trust me, I have an in’. Didn’t remember being beaten to near death at the foot of a throne just a day later while Lance looked on in drugged horror, unable to do anything yet fully aware of all his surroundings.

Lance leaned against a wall and began to slide down, his head still grasped tightly between his hands. He could see the raw agony on Shiro’s face when he remembered. He could hear broken, throaty screams tear themselves out of a damaged and worn throat. He could imagine the disappointment and the anger targeted at him when Shiro inevitably remembered. He could imagine it because he had seen it before. Shiro had glared straight at him as he lounged, seemingly carelessly, at the foot of the throne. It had looked like Shiro had wanted to shove his glowing Galra fist straight through Lance’s face. In that moment, Lance had wanted it too.

A quiet banging could be heard echoing throughout the halls, giving Lance pause. However, when he paused, the noise had stopped. Oh. The throbbing on the back of his head indicated that he had been the one making the banging sounds, probably from throwing his head back into the wall. He was going crazy. Actual, batshit crazy.

“Lance!” echoed a warm, though worried-sounding voice. It sounded pretty far away.

They found him. Though, Lance wasn’t quite sure how he felt about being found. But, after a moment, he decided it was probably good. He didn’t want to be alone right now. Not anymore.  
With a tired sigh, Lance gave in. This was his new cage. Fancy and shiny, but still a cage. He decided to do what he did best for right now. Bottle the hell out of his feelings, put on a confident smirk, and pretend that nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary.

“Over here!” he shouted back.

Two pairs of footsteps came running towards him, one lighter and quicker than the other. Pidgeotto turned around the corner first before almost immediately spying him sitting, leaning up against the wall. She let out a gasping sigh of relief and called over her shoulder, “He’s good Hunk!”

“Oh thank the Gods!” cried Hunk as he too came barreling around the corner. It made Lance chuckle, even if only a little bit. Hunk always had been a little bit of a mother hen. But Lance appreciated it.

“Hey there big guy,” he snorted.

Hunk bent over, resting his hands on his knees as he held up a pointer finger. He wheezed a little, slowly regaining his breath before he slouched down next to Lance and slung an arm over his shoulder.

Hunk searched his face worriedly. The quick flash of his eyes and the concerned downturn of his mouth made it obvious that he still cared for Lance, still considered him a friend even with all the time that had passed. It made something inside of Lance’s chest warm, though he quickly doused out the flame. No warm squishy feelings here, thank you very much. If he had learned one thing over the past three years, it was that no one could be trusted. People changed and people lied, whether they meant to or not. There was no way he was going to let himself be set up for disappointment. Not again.

Hunk simply smiled. He knew. Knew that Lance wasn’t ready to talk, not now. Probably never would be.

“I realized we never introduced everyone. Lance, this is Pidge,” Hunk gestured over to the slight girl in front of them. Lance took a moment to inspect her. Large, honey brown eyes with a mischevious glint. A small, upturned nose, almost impish in appearance. And a small, upturned smile with a hint of a smirk. She reminded him an awful lot of his younger sister Mari. An awful, puckish character with no respect for personal space or privacy. A pang of longing went through him. He could already tell that she was Mari, through and through.

She said nothing but reached one of her hands forward.

Lance took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake.

Pidge nodded once before she quipped, “The socially awkward one was Keith, the red paladin. You know Hunk, obviously. Coran is our...quirky space uncle who specializes in probably everything you could ever imagine. Allura was, well. You probably know who she is already. Finally, there’s the black paladin-”

“Takashi Shirogane,” Lance interrupted quietly.

Pidge and Hunk both stared at him in shock before, “Wait, you know him?”

An embarrassed blush dusted across Lance’s cheeks as both Hunk and Pidge’s curious gazes bored into him. He shrugged as nonchalantly as he physically could and muttered, “He introduced himself when he rescued me.”

“Right,” drawled Pidge, obviously not believing a word of what Lance was spouting, but going with it, for his sake. Definitely Mari.

The warm feeling sparked again in his chest. But he was too busy feeling like himself to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok
> 
> okokokokokokokokok
> 
> Allura is not an absolute royal bitch, I promise
> 
> I just- I want her to have a hard time with this transition that's obviously going to be happening because my foreshadowing is as basic and obvious af because like, it's been quite a while that she's been with blue and even though their relationship is rocky and a lil funny, there is still a connection. Allura's gonna feel abandoned and angry that something she's always had and always has planned for, ever since she was a wee bab, is going to be taken away, whether on purpose or not.
> 
> Obviously, she's going to try to avoid taking that anger out on Lance as best she can, and she even is the one to tell him that no, he needs to stay. She could have gone about it in a nicer way, but she's having a hard time! And I wanted to show that! They're all struggling! There's angst! Because I'm me!!!
> 
> On a more personal note, I do want to say that a lot of the moments in this chapter where a character's thoughts seem to be rambling and out of control and hectic is a representation of what goes through my mind when I have an anxiety attack or have a mental breakdown. I do have anxiety and I do know what it is like, at least for me, to be in the middle of a mental breakdown or anxiety attack. My experiences are my own though and are unique to me. Other's may experience things differently or exhibit different symptoms. Please do not think that I am writing these things with little regard to others with these problems. Trust me. I know what it's like.
> 
> -Billie <3


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